Tag Archives: Series

  Keita Takeuchi Rungis, Europe’s largest fresh produce market located in the southern suburbs of Paris, has a market specifically for gibier, or game meat. Many shoppers visit the market to buy separately-packed parts of wild boar meat, deer meat processed for barbecues and seasoned wild rabbit meat. Even in France which has a long history of gibier dishes, popularity of game meat is declining especially among young people. Producers and sellers of gibier products are conducting thorough hygiene management to secure safety of game meat, and are making efforts to make it more appealing to a wide range of consumers. Some 30 wholesalers in the gibier market sell 88,000 … Continue reading →

  Keita Takeuchi In Scotland, damages on crops and forests have been growing severer, as excessive number of deer eat up pasture grass, wheat, rape seed and tree buds and shoots, and trample down plants growing in the forests. In an effort to manage deer which roam far and wide through the vast forests, stakeholders formed deer management groups and have succeeded in reducing the number of deer and damage on crops. According to Richard Cooke, executive committee chairman of the Association of Deer Management Groups (ADMG), the groups have a tough task of handling conflicts of interests among different stakeholders. The association, based in the town of Brechin, is … Continue reading →

  Keita Takeuchi In France, a system of collecting fees from hunters to be used to compensate for crop damages caused by deer and wild boars has played a significant role in supporting farmers’ businesses. But the system is facing difficulties due to decline in the number of hunters and increasing amount of compensation brought about by rising prices of agricultural products. Gregoire Callies, 49, runs a 150-hectare hunting ground in the village of Brignancourt in Val d’Oise, which is located some 40 km northwest of Paris and is known for vast wheat fields which appear in the paintings of Vincent van Gogh and Claude Monet. Showing a menu for … Continue reading →

  Keita Takeuchi Fife, Scotland, is a hilly county where sheep graze in pastures and wheat field ripples, and where wild animals live in scattered forests. In one of the forests in Cupar, a town located in the eastern part of Fife, there is a training facility for students of Elmwood College’s gamekeeping course, where they study hunting, gamekeeping and wildlife ecology. Gamekeeping lecturer Jim Goodlad, while driving a four-wheel drive car, tells six students accompanying him to look at pheasants pecking at insects in cattle manure. It is a part of field courses to learn how to rear pheasants, a popular game for hunting. To create a feeding place … Continue reading →

  Yuu Kawasaki Hunting is popular in Europe and the use of gibier (game meats) is well established in the region. But even in European countries where hunting is deeply rooted as a tradition, damages caused by wildlife to agricultural products are becoming increasingly serious. In this series, we look at the situations and concerns in Europe related to hunting and game meats, and what Japan can learn from their experiences. Marnia Alexander, 57-year-old professional hunter in Bavaria in southern Germany, proudly states that hunters are the ones who suppress threats by wild animals and protect farmlands and forests from devastation. In the region where hunting is the most popular … Continue reading →