Hunter Faces Serious Charges
However, the hunter said, "I made myself very small. Then the mother saw me. Our eyes met, she charged." He claims that he had to kill the bear to save his own life.
"She grabbed my left thigh, I panicked and fired a shot. She backed away growling, she went around me and bit my right calf, I fell, she was eating my leg," he added. "I reloaded my rifle and fired."
Jean-Luc Fernandez, president of a local hunting federation, defended Rives. He said, "He fired. He should have let her do it? No, he saved his own skin."
However, critics noted that the hunter wasn't in an approved hunting area. 15 other hunters also faced legal trouble for illegal hunting on various offenses. "Your obligation as a hunter is to know where you are hunting," prosecutor Olivier Mouysset said.
"To what extent can one argue necessity, when one has committed a series of offences that led to the death of the bear Caramelles?" asked Alain Reynes of the bear-preservation association Pays de l'ours. It remains to be seen what comes of the trial.
