We are currently in the middle of the hunting season and at Epinois, this weekend it seems that things have gone wrong. Three pigs that belonged to an educational farm were killed by a hunter while they were on private land! The owner of the pigs is demanding legal action.
In a domain of Epinois (Binche), regarding fifty animals live in peace, most of them in semi-freedom. On Sunday, a hunter mistook the surroundings for a hunting ground. Ludovic Poulain is the manager of the small Epinois estate. He testifies: “The first shots rang out. We came to see. They shot the three domain pigs on private land.”
The facts took place in a buffer zone that the estate rents to its neighbor to avoid incidents of this type. Yet it is here that the three sanglochons, a cross between a wild boar and a pig, were slaughtered. Olivier Caudron, friend of the small Epinois estate: “We can clearly see that this animal is not a wild boar. Now, according to the first echoes that we had, he would have also fired in the blind. Ludovic Poulain continues: “The hunting manager confirmed that the hunter who shot broke all the hunting rules. The hunter who shot the animals, for him, it’s normal. He went on with his day, no excuses, nothing everything. No remorse.”
If it happened on three walkers
On a tree on the estate, the traces of blood are still visible. The Domaine d’Epinois area is open to visitors. The death of the three little sanglochons caused turmoil and incomprehension. “Let the hunter’s hunting license be withdrawn. The accident that there was, that cannot happen. There, it happened on three pigs, but if it happened on three walkers or someone who went to the mushrooms”loose Ludovic Poulain.
The estate intends to file a complaint. The Nature and Forest Division will verify compliance with the law. Compensation should be negotiated with the hunter.