ILULISSAT, Denmark, Sept 24, 2008 (AFP) - A European Union proposal to ban imports of seal skins has Greenlandic Inuits worried they could soon face a repeat of boycotts that severely crippled one of their major sources of income two decades ago.

VIENNA, September 14, 2008 (AFP) - An Austrian hunter tried to shoot down a parked car, mistaking it for a wild boar late Friday near Schmiedrait, in eastern Austria, the national news agency APA reported.

OTTAWA, July 10, 2008 (AFP) - Canada's prime minister on Thursday warned the European Commission president not to prohibit Canadian seal skins, arguing that public pressure for a ban is based on misinformation from activists.

BRUSSELS, April 25, 2008 (AFP) - The European Commission will seek to ban the import of 'inhumane' seal products, a spokeswoman said Friday, though animal rights groups fear the move may not prevent the annual cull in Canada.

VALLETTA, April 25, 2008 (AFP) - Malta on Friday banned spring bird hunting and trapping after the European Court of Justice issued a temporary ruling against the practice in the tiny Mediterranean state.

The ECJ issued the interim decision late Thursday to prohibit hunting of turtle dove and common quail, migrating species that stop in Malta on their way back to Europe to breed.

BRUSSELS, April 25, 2008 (AFP) - The EU commission on Friday hailed a European court ban on the spring hunting of quails and turtle doves in Malta.

A commission spokeswoman said the EU's executive arm had become 'very concerned that for both the quails and turtle doves which return to Malta in spring time to nest the current hunting practices would endanger the species'.

PAU, France, April 21, 2008 (AFP) - Charges were dropped Monday against a hunter who shot France's last native female bear in the Pyrenees mountains in 2004, sparking angry protests from animal rights groups.

MOSCOW, April 7, 2008 (AFP) - Russia is considering a ban on hunting baby seals, a practice that kills some 35,000 animals each year in the country, the natural resources ministry said Monday.

'We consider it necessary,' a ministry spokeswoman told AFP when asked about a possible ban. 'It is not allowed in any other country.'

VALLETTA, April 2, 2008 (AFP) - Maltese bird hunters and conservationists are headed for a showdown in the Mediterranean island state over the plight of migrating birds such as quail and turtle doves that pass through every spring.

VALLETTA, April 2, 2008 (AFP) - Maltese bird hunters and conservationists are headed for a showdown in the Mediterranean island state over the plight of migrating birds such as quail and turtle doves that pass through every spring.

VALLETTA, April 1, 2008 (AFP) - Maltese bird hunters and conservationists are headed for a showdown in the Mediterranean island state over the plight of migrating birds such as quail and turtle doves that pass through every spring.

BRUSSELS, March 26, 2008 (AFP) - The European Commission is considering action against Canada over the 'inhumane' slaughter of seals, a spokeswoman said Wednesday.

EU Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas 'is looking into the matter of the inhumane killing of seals', his spokeswoman told reporters in Brussels.

MONTREAL, March 15, 2008 (AFP) - Animal rights protestors stripped off in the centre of Montreal Saturday to protest against the resumption of seal-hunting in Canada, as the government accused opponents of the hunt of 'misinformation.'

OTTAWA, March 10, 2008 (AFP) - Canada on Monday set a limit for its annual seal harvest this year of 275,000 harp seals, and announced new rules to make the slaughter less cruel as well as curb international protests over the hunt.

OTTAWA, March 10, 2008 (AFP) - Canada on Monday set a limit for its annual seal harvest this year of 275,000 harp seals, and announced new rules to make the slaughter less cruel as well as curb international protests over the hunt.

MADRID, March 1, 2008 (AFP) - Tens of thousands of people took to the streets of Madrid Saturday in a protest against anti-hunting laws condemned by the Socialist government as an election rally by the conservative opposition.

CHICAGO, Jan 8, 2008 (AFP) - An overexcited dog accidentally shot and killed its owner on a goose hunting trip in Texas, authorities said Tuesday.

Perry Price, 46, had just shot a goose and went back to his pickup truck to let his dog out to go find it in the brush.

DUBLIN, Dec 19, 2007 (AFP) - An Irish tradition dating back more than 150 years was ended Wednesday, when the country's only stag hunt was told it could no longer chase live deer due to security and animal welfare concerns.

WASHINGTON, Dec 18, 2007 (AFP) - A harness used by hunters to strap themselves onto trees has been recalled in the United States amid fears that it could fail, causing serious injury or death, officials said Tuesday.

Some 60,000 full body safety harnesses made in China for Gorilla Treestands of Michigan have been recalled, the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) announced.

BEIJING, Dec 17, 2007 (AFP) - China is investigating reports of illegal wildlife trading in the country's southwest where locals were offered huge sums of cash for giant panda pelts, state press reported Monday.

Local police have found cases of panda bear hunting in Baoxing county in Sichuan province, the China Daily newspaper quoted the State Forestry Administration as saying.

CHICAGO, Nov 28, 2007 (AFP) - A white man convicted of killing a Hmong immigrant while hunting squirrels was sentenced to 71 years in jail in a racially charged case, court records showed on Wednesday.

James Nichols was found guilty of shooting and stabbing to death Cha Vang in a public hunting ground in rural Wisconsin on January 5 and then trying to hide his body.

LONDON, Nov 28, 2007 (AFP) - Britain's highest court on Wednesday rejected an appeal by countryside groups against the government's ban on hunting with dogs, ruling that the law does not contravene human rights.

NAIROBI, Nov 20, 2007 (AFP) - A Kenyan herder who slew a lion only to be mauled later by a pack of hyenas has died, an official said Tuesday.

Moses Lekalau, 35, on Friday speared a lion to death in Samburu, about 260 kilometres (163 miles) northeast of the capital Nairobi, only to be savaged by hyenas that emerged from the bush.

NAIROBI, Nov 19, 2007 (AFP) - Kenyan surgeons have amputated the arms and reconstructed the face of a herder who slew a lion, only to be mauled later by a pack of hyenas, an official said Monday.

Moses Lekalau, 35, on Friday speared a lion to death in Samburu, about 260 kilometres (163 miles) northeast of the capital Nairobi, only to be savaged by hyenas that emerged from the bush.

ATHENS, Nov 10, 2007 (AFP) - A Greek court has imposed a temporary hunting ban throughout the country to protect wildlife following last summer's devastating fires, a judicial source said Saturday.

Greece's highest administrative court on Friday imposed the temporary ban until November 21, when a definitive ruling on the issue is expected to be handed down, the source said.

BUCHAREST, Nov 6, 2007 (AFP) - An Italian on a hunting expedition in Romania was shot dead by a colleague who mistook him for a fox, police said Tuesday.

The 43-year-old died after being shot in the head Monday near the western town of Arad while out hunting with a fellow Italian and four Romanians, said a police spokesman.

CHICAGO, Oct 29, 2007 (AFP) - A pack of hunting dogs shot an Iowa man as he went to retrieve a fallen pheasant, authorities said.

James Harris, 37, was shot in the leg while hunting with some friends on Friday afternoon, a day before pheasant season officially opened.

The group shot a bird which landed on the other side of a fence, the Iowa Department of Natural Resource said in a press release.

'Harris reportedly went to retrieve the bird, placed his gun on the ground and crossed the fence near the muzzle end,' the press release said.

STOCKHOLM, Oct 14, 2007 (AFP) - A bear attacked and injured two elk hunters in northern Sweden on Sunday, police said, in the same region where a hunter was killed last week.

The two hunters were accompanied by their dogs and tracking an elk when a bear attacked in the Jamtland region north west of the capital Stockholm.

The men were helicoptered to hospital but their condition is not yet known, according to a police spokesman.

Police were looking for the bear, he added.

ANNECY, France, Oct 6, 2007 (AFP) - A hunter was shot and killed Saturday in France's eastern region of Haute Savoie, during a hunt for a wild boar, local police said.

The victim, a local man in his early 30s, was with a group of about 10 hunters as they were trying to flush out a boar.

Several shots were fired as a boar emerged from a coppice and one bullet hit the victim in the chest. He died at the scene despite the efforts of paramedics.

Investigators have not yet established who fired the fatal shot.

A formal investigation has been opened.

MARINETTE, Wisconsin, Oct 2, 2007 (AFP) - The trial of a white man charged with shooting and stabbing to death a Hmong immigrant while hunting squirrels began in this northern town on Tuesday.

The all-white jury of eight men and five women heard testimony in the case against James Nichols, who is accused of killing Cha Vang in a public hunting grounds on January 5.

The case has heightened tensions between white hunters and the ethnic Hmong, most of whom began emigrating to the United States from Laos and Thailand after the Vietnam war.

HELSINKI, Sept 13, 2007 (AFP) - Finland on Thursday balked at an EU proposal to raise the legal age for firearm possession to 18, claiming the law would penalise teenaged hunters and sports shooters.

'If the EU were to restrict the opportunities for hunting for the young, this would give rise to highly emotional and strong reactions in Finland against the EU as a whole,' Finnish Agricultural and Forestry Minister Sirkka-Liisa Anttila and Interior Minister Anne Holmund warned in a letter to the EU Portuguese presidency.

HELSINKI, Aug 20, 2007 (AFP) - A wounded bear attacked an unlucky hunter in Finland on the first day of the hunting season Monday, but the man survived suffering only a big fright and a few stitches, officials said.

Together with two hunting buddies, the man was tracking a brown bear he had just wounded with a bullet in a thick forest in Kiite, in eastern Finland near the Russian border, when the bear released its anger on the shooter.

The animal escaped another round of heavy-calibre fire and the jaws of the man's hunting dog before turning on the hunter.

IQALUIT, Canada, Aug 10, 2007 (AFP) - Sled dogs are far outnumbered by snowmobiles in Canada's far north, but high gasoline prices and warming are pushing a revival of this ancient form of Arctic transportation.

Snowmobiles allowed Inuit hunters to travel faster and further when they were introduced half a century ago.

With no paved roads connecting most of Canada's northern communities, many local residents rely on them now to get around, roaring along ancient hunting trails, across frozen lakes and rivers.