It’s a tale of two bears, one injured hunter and one unfazed hunter, all off the scent. A man died Monday after falling off his boat while trying to track one of two bears, who were spotted near his home, in canton Valais, Switzerland. Switzerland’s public prosecutor has opened an investigation in case whether the hunt was legal, but already The Hestia Forest Association says the man’s death could have been avoided. Jean-François Battisti, a hunter and a director of the association, told local media, “there were too many men around for a bear to be there.” The hunter had heard the makings of a match from the man’s relative, who had a stakeout of the mountains, but when the man headed to search for the match, he fell off his boat and was swarmed by the bears. Battisti said it wasn’t clear exactly what caused the hunter to fall off the boat but that the head of the SPARCNA was investigating whether possible legal loopholes played a role. Part of the rules were: one hunter had to be at a sauna, but he was out at the time of the incident. Meanwhile, another hunter who heard the sounds of a match and attempted to confirm it, but hit the head of a mother bear and ended up in a bear trap. Battisti said the hunter “was very lucky” as he arrived at his hunting cabin with broken bones, “in a very bad condition and was bleeding heavily.”
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