Agonizingly dead

“Master Lampe” had to die in a trap

A hare met its cruel end in this trap made of concrete pipes in the Weinviertel region.(Bild: Krone KREATIV/zVg/Tierschutz Austria fotokerschi.at)

An unknown trapper simply let a trapped hare starve to death in Lower Austria. Animal rights activists have now filed a complaint.

Franz Puchegger could hardly believe his eyes recently in the Weinviertel region. In a wooded area near Schletz close to Asparn an der Zaya in the Mistelbach district, the managing director of the Austrian Ecological Hunting Association came across a trap.

"There was a dead hare inside," Puchegger explains: "As it was a closed live trap, everything indicates that the hare had died of agonizing starvation and thirst." The expert suspects that the heartless trapper obviously took this into account.

Calls for the abolition of trapping
Puchegger took the case to Tierschutz Austria. And the association has filed a complaint. "According to Section 222, this is cruelty to animals," explains spokesperson Martin Aschauer. According to current hunting law, the trap should have been checked at least once a day.

However, as this check was apparently omitted, the hare suffered an agonizing end. Tierschutz Austria is calling for an investigation to be opened into this case, for the person responsible to be identified and - if available - for the hunting license to be revoked.

"The population of brown hares is declining," complain the animal rights activists. They are calling for trapping to be abolished: "It is probably one of the cruelest forms of hunting!"