Hunting banned in parts of Austria after hailstones kill 90pc of wild game

Hundreds of deer were discovered either dead or so badly injured they had to be put down by wildlife experts.

In the country's rural Salzburg province, 90 per cent of pheasants and 80 per cent of hares were killed in the hail storms.

Sepp Eder, the hunting chief, said : "Animals sought shelter in farms, in fields of grain but the hail was so heavy it smashed right into them. It may take five years for animal numbers to recover, if they ever do so."

Farmers are believed to have suffered more than £60 million in damages to crops and buildings.

www.telegraph.co.uk...#

But hey this is normal right?....it happens every year in Austria....

I feel sorry for the famers who lost so much money in damages to crops, it is their livelyhood, and now they can't even hunt legally, and probably won't be able to for maybe 5 years if they wait for the wildlife to recover from this.

I live in tornado alley and see a large amount of hail. We do not see anything more than maybe a birds nest knocked out. Sometimes the crops get damaged but never do you get to see dead deer or cattle over a hail storm.

I find it odd that's all.

Something doesn't seem right to me about this. Animals are pretty good at knowing when a storm is on it's way. They tend to find shelter.

I can understand the crops being ruined, crops tend to move very slowly. But animals can hide. I just don't get why they didn't find shelter in time.

I've been in storms here in Sicily where the hail hits so hard and fast there's no getting out without getting a few hits.

Also seen hail the size of golf balls and bigger. Massive car damage, damage to property etc.

Now if those deer were in the middle of a field, the hail started? It's very believable (to me) - I imagine they got knocked on the noggin, hit the ground and from there followed a a pretty gruesome death.

Horrid for farmers - just horrid.

"Would you rather be killed by hail or a hunter?"

"Hmm, difficult question," replied the deer, the rabbits and all the other hunted animals.

Come on, shooting animals for 'fun' is absolutely immoral.

reply to post by spellbound


Not all animals are killed for sport. People do still eat wild game.

Responsible hunting is key to wildlife population control. It's not like people are going out willy nilly blowing away Bambi and Thumper cause it's just that much fun.

Sounds to me like that wasn't hail that came down, sounds more like HELL.

We have hail here pretty often, ranging from pea sized to grapefruit sized, but this is the first time I have ever heard of animals dying during a hailstorm.

Ive seen only one occassion of deadly hail - and its frightening.

The noise is incredible - all cars were basically smashed, roofs destroyed, and some had the hail penetrate into their houses through broken roofs.

You'd have to see it to understand - NOBODY would want to be outside trying to shelter under a tree.

The hailstorm actually occurred last July and it seems its violence took many animals by surprise and left them with nowhere to hide

Eder said wild animals had sought refuge in grain fields in vain, as high wind during the hail storm had blown the masses of ice in all directions, making it impossible to find a secure refuge.

Hunting season called off after weather chaos

There were quite a few such storms in Austria earlier this summer.

reply to post by Amagnon

We had some pretty bad ones here this past year, one that put holes in the roofs of many many a home in my city. And roofing is a booming business around here! It took out most of our garden as well, and we thanked our stars that our vehicle was parked under a safe shelter! My niece was visiting and it took out all the windows on her car, plus a couple of the hail rocks went slap through the roof of her car!

daammmmm;
ive never heard of anything like this before

You know, I can understand deer getting killed by such a hail storm, but 90% pheasants were killed?...and 80% HARES?.... hares can burrow underground, not to mention that both hares and pheasants are very small. For so many of them getting killed it must have been a really bad hail storm.

reply to post by spellbound


Do you think that all hunters are psychotic? Non hunters are crueler than hunters. When ya hunt you don't always get anything. Going to the grocer the meat aisle is always full

This hailstorm story is odd. The wild game population was decimated according to that story.

I read a german article (translated with Google). It says that approximately 2500 hares were killed. And 200 deer.

Hunters who hunt for meat that they eat are fine.

And, yes, I cannot stand the smell of butcher shops.

I was just protesting about people who kill animals for 'fun'. Like fox hunters.