UK Edition
Charging deer gores hunter to death near Paris
A 62-year-old man died while taking part in a hunt in the Paris area on Monday after being charged by a deer that fatally gored him, police said.
The incident occurred around 10 am in the Compiegne national park, about 53 miles northeast of Paris.
The man, identified by local media as Regis Levasseur, was acting as a beater when he was struck. He "was charged and pierced by a deer which stabbed him with his antlers," a police spokesman said.
The hunter, who was not carrying a rifle, died of internal bleeding before emergency services could arrive. Police said this type of death was "uncommon".
"Normally the animal would flee, but this time he decided to charge," Guy Harlé, president of the local hunters' federation told The Local. "It came after him.
"The antlers of the stag are like many knives piercing you, there is nothing you can do. This tragic accident reminds us that we do not play with a wild animal. There is an inherent risk with hunting."
Mr Levasseur was reportedly due to get married in the coming months.
"For him, hunting was more than a hobby, it was his life," Mr Harlé said.
Stag and deer hunting with hounds is flourishing in France, where - unlike in the UK - the tradition has until now faced little challenge from politicians or animal-rights activists.
The attack comes shortly after hunters caused outrage by tracking a stag with their hounds to the garden of a private house and shot it at close range.
It prompted France's environment minister, Nicolas Hulot, to slam hunting with hounds as "a practice from another century" that "prolongs the agony" of the animal.