But either he accepts the (national) hunting plan, or he pays the price," Lagier told the court on Monday. In 2016, local authorities ordered measures to try scare some of the deer off Besson's land, citing the damage caused to surrounding farms and the threat to passing motorists of crossing deer. But they also ruled that the 300 deer counted on both Besson's land and the wider Saint-Evroult forest were not excessive. Local farmers have collected evidence of the damage caused to cornfields by deer straying from Besson's estate. The director's lawyer Jean-Marc Descoubes argued that the hunters had failed to prove that it was the deer on his land that were causing the damage.

Source: The Local November 04, 2019 14:03 UTC