To prevent accidents involving cyclists and walkers, the government would rather create an application called Meerkat where hunters could report their position than ban hunting in France on Sundays.
” You see, the bad hunter sees something moving and shoots, shoots. The good hunter sees something and shoots. But he is a good hunter.“The famous quote from Inconnus could be updated in 2023. He is a good hunter and has an app that helps him avoid walking on the streets.“
According to the Figaro The French government would prefer not to ban hunting on Sundays as proposed by Europe Ecologie–Les Verts party. This bill was introduced and defended in the National Assembly. Instead, the executive would wager on the creation and use of a mobile application to prevent hunting accidents.
Stay alive with the “Meerkat” app
According to reports, the Ministry of Ecological Transition has begun to defend the development of a new application called “The Transition” after further discussions with Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne and President Emmanuel Macron.Meerkat” – Internally at least. An official statement on the issue is expected Monday, January 9th, 11:00 am.
Meerkat allows walkers to log into the system and see the geographical location of hunters who have reported it. They can then adjust their route to make sure they are safe. Suricate should be considered an essential application for hiking.
This is a far from infallible idea
Although it is still in development, the enforcement idea raises many questions. First, it is possible to wonder why the government would prefer this solution, when banning hunting on Sundays has been embraced by the majority of French citizens. According to an Ipsos survey, 78% support such a measure. A third of those surveyed felt unsafe walking in the forest. The French Office of Biodiversity also reported 90 hunting accidents, 8 of them fatal, in the 2021-2022 period. This is a slight decrease in hunting accidents compared with the previous season, even though the trend is downwards over the past thirty years.
The application concept itself has many flaws. Suricate leaves it up to cyclists and walkers alike to adapt their routes, while posing no danger to others. Instead of solving the problem, they would be told to avoid it. This message is already morally questionable. Furthermore, the system is not working correctly. To be effective hunters would have to take time to report on the application, have their smartphones with, and be easily geotagged.
This is however the best way to duplicate the failure of AllAntiCovid’s mission toContact tracing. This one was based on the willingness of Covid 19 positive subjects to report on the application. Suricate would most probably experience the same problems.
Arguments of the government
Le FigaroThe explanation is that the idea of submitting an application would have been whispered to government officials by hunting lobbyists. This solution is defended by Thierry Coste (political advisor to the National Federation of Hunters). He views it as a way of “Be against fear“. Sources on the government side explain that they don’t want “.To suggest that Sunday hunting be prohibited would solve the problem for the other six days in the week“.
“Walkers must have cover on all days” and Meerkat would thus be considered the best option.We prefer ads that wow.“, reads a quote inLe Figaro. The daily newspaper reveals that the executive would also train in hunting and alcohol during such controversial and divisive practices.
The position of Emmanuel Macron
Finally, the president is said to have firmly affirmed to the Secretary of State for Ecology, Bérangère Couillard, his opposition to a ban on Sunday hunting. “It’s a no go.“, according to an adviser familiar with the case.This is not a time to start sparks with people who might demonstrate.“, explains the same source.
You can find out the official position of the Ministry of Ecological Transition as well as the government’s position on Monday, 9 January.
NB. Ulrich Rozier, cofounder of Humanoid, which publishes Frandroid and was also a candidate in 2022’s legislative elections for Animalist Party. He is opposed to hunting.
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