Hunt with hounds continues in France
Hunting with dogs is banned in much of Europe but in France the tradition is alive.
FRANCE: Hunters face no challenge from politicians or animal-rights activists - but how long will this last?
As Hugues Lamy gets out of his car and into his boots in a forest clearing in Normandy, the heavens open.
But Mr Lamy will not let bad weather spoil the thrill of riding along as a pack of hounds hunts down a roe deer.
"We come here rain or shine," he beams. "This evening the tea, or the Scotch, will taste much better!"
As winter sports go, hunting with hounds may not be as popular as skiing in France, but it is much more ancient.
While several other European countries, including Germany and the UK, have banned hunting with hounds, in France it continues unhindered - more than 400 hunts boast 10,000 members nationwide.
They face little or no challenge from the animal-rights lobby. Saboteurs - who obstruct England s remaining hunters - are a rarity in France.
"We have never had any activists here," says Mathieu Berge, who has been the master of the Foret d Eu hunt since the 1980s.
Only one hunt in the whole of Normandy has been disrupted over the 10 years Berge has served as regional head for France s hunting association. "On that occasion the gendarmes quickly removed the troublemakers," he says.
The hunt begins with Berge gathering participants around him, in full regalia despite the mud. After a short briefing, the master gets on his horse, blows a fanfare on his horn, and leads the hounds into the woods with others trotting after him.
Like traditional hunting in the UK and elsewhere, "chasse a courre", as the French call it, has strict rules. There are no firearms. The hunters role is limited to observing, typically on horseback, and sounding horns when they spot an animal.
But French-style hunting also has its own peculiarities. While the British chase mostly foxes across fields, the French focus on boar or deer in forests.
The riding experience differs as a result. In Britain the thrill of jumping over fences in open countryside is central to hunting.
In France as elsewhere, hunting with dogs is widely perceived as an aristocratic pursuit. It used to be a favourite royal pastime. Until the 1990s, French presidents entertained foreign leaders by taking them on shoots.
But hunting with hounds is no longer the preserve of the rich, says Mathieu Berge. He is no aristocrat himself - he runs a small hunting gear business and volunteers as master of the hunt he set up in the 1980s.
"We have farmers, factory workers, and even unemployed people," he says.
The full annual subscription is 1,700 euros (£1,400, $2,200) - "the equivalent of a week s skiing holiday," says member Gontrand Routier, a self-employed electrician.
The four-wheel drives and horse vans parked in the clearing suggest members are well-off. But the presence of followers indicates the sport does have wider appeal.
Bernard Leblond, a retired metal worker who lives 25km (15 miles) from the forest, has braved the cold weather to come on his moped.
"I have attended hunts here for the past 10 years," he says. He typically hitches a ride with another spectator, or follows on foot.
"What excites me is listening to the hounds. It s beautiful," he adds.
Although British and French hunters have not been brought closer together by the hunting ban, there have been contacts between them for centuries - notably exchanges of hounds.
Laurent Sainsot, a Paris-based estate agent who hunts on both sides of the Channel, regularly collects surplus fox-hounds from his English contacts, and finds them excellent at adapting to French conditions.
"Once they learn to pick up the scent of boar, they no longer want to chase anything else," he says.
Conversely Leicestershire master Joss Hanbury says he has been "very impressed so far" with the puppies his hounds have had with a couple of French females.
But the 2004 Hunting Act, Sainsot says, did have an effect on French hunters - making them more aware of the long-term challenges they face.
Hunting with dogs is regularly condemned by France s animal-rights lobby. Herve Belardi of the Societe Protectrice des Animaux calls it "an antiquated pleasure".
"The kill itself is gratuitously cruel," he says. "The animal is harried to exhaustion, and then it is either shredded by the hounds or has its throat ritually slit."
