13 die in hunting accidents in Italy
2012-10-21 22:02
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Rome - The hunting season has barely begun in Italy, where 720 000 people hunt regularly and already 13 people, including a child, have died in related accidents, an anti-gun association says.
"Stop the massacre," Victims of Hunting said on Sunday, noting that another 33 people had suffered gunshot wounds since the autumn-spring season began on 1 September.
The figures represent a sharp rise from last year's hunting season, when a total of 25 people were killed, including 24 hunters, and 70 were wounded including 11 non-hunters.
"The government should do something," the group's president Daniela Casprini said in a statement.
"An ordinary citizen can't go about normal activities in the hunting areas without risking death and hunting should be banned in Italy.
"We must end what is a veritable massacre," she said.
"Opinions have little importance next to the facts."
The latest hunting accident, on Saturday, happened in Pavia in northwestern Italy where a 16-year-old was killed by his 17-year-old best friend.
Their families face charges for failing to keep their guns locked away.
