"It's not about killing ... It's about eating. We're respecting the natural balance of nature. We don't give boys PlayStations here; we give them guns."
That is from Daniel Esparza, the former mayor of a French village called Saint-Laurent de la Cabrerisse, uttered to a reporter filing a story that is partially about about Esparaza's expertise in boar-hunting.
The quote, which explains what a local passion it is to hunt sanglier (or wild boar) continues: "I've passed on my knowledge of nature to Ludo since he was young."
Ludo is Esparaza's son. Father, son and reporter are on a hunt as part of the reporter's travel article about vacationing in Saint-Laurent de la Cabrerisse, where rural activities like boar-hunting, wine-making and even something called smell lotto are encouraged for tourists to try. And the writer continues:
Ludo - who says he sometimes smears himself with boar shit to creep close to his prey - seems a good man to hide behind. At midnight, after a final "savage cherry" liqueur that renders accurate shooting impossible, I climb into his battered van. Ludo makes a strangling noise, hinting at the animal's fate, asks if I'm "ready for adventure", and then, bar the odd grunt, doesn't speak for two hours. I'm boar hunting with Obelix.
Does it really matter if they got any boar? Ludo sounds like he's having a fine life, even if it didn't include a PlayStation in his childhood.
Live high on the hog in the Languedoc [The Observer] [PIC]