Julien Feral, 35, was hunting when he accidentally shot and killed Morgan Keane, 25, who was outside near his home chopping wood.
A French man dodges prison time for his fatal shooting of another man he thought was a boar.
Julien Feral, 35, was participating in an organized hunt in Southwest France in December 2020 when he accidentally shot and killed Morgan Keane, 25, who was outside near his home chopping wood, CBS News reported.
Feral was sentenced to a two-year suspended jail term and was banned from hunting for the rest of his life due to the incident, according to CBS News. The organizer of the wild boar hunt also was punished, receiving an 18-month suspended sentence and a five-year hunting ban, said the news site.
Friends of Keane created Un Jour Un Chasseur (translating to One Day A Hunter), a collective aimed to share stories of hunting accidents.
After hearing the punishment the men will face, Keane's friends said, “Overall, we are quite disappointed with this verdict. The prosecutor’s recommendations were not all followed, even though the Court had the opportunity to pronounce exemplary and strong sentences, four days after the government’s announcements to improve hunting safety,” reported The Guardian.
This incident along with many other hunting accidents have spurred the French government to crack down on hunting safety, releasing a new plan on Jan. 9 to make hunting more secure.
“Every year, one million French people go hunting. Hunting, particularly for purposes of regulating large game populations, is one of the necessary practices in our territories. It must continue its modernization and meet the expectations of our fellow citizens,” said Bérangère Couillard, the secretary of state for Ecology, in a news release.
