A hunter in Russia has been essentially shot and killed by his own dog, when the animal brushed against a weapon that was balanced on his knee and pointed toward his stomach.
Investigators in the southern region of Saratov said in a statement that a 64-year-old man had died of abdominal wounds sustained while unloading his Estonian Hounds from his car on Sunday.
“The gun was on his knee, butt down, with the barrel pointed at his stomach,” one investigator, Aleksandr Galanin, told a local news outlet, citing a relative who described the events that had led to the hunter’s death. Once released from the car, Mr. Galanin said, an excited dog jumped on the hunter, hitting the trigger of his double-barreled TOZ-34 shotgun.
“A rather experienced hunter has died,” Mr. Galanin said. “He was sober, he had a firearms license. Everything was in order. It was an accident.”
The 64-year-old was named by local media as Sergei Terekhov. Several photographs posted on his profile on the Russian social media platform Odnoklassniki showed him with a hunting rifle and dogs.
Russia’s weapons laws are more stringent than those in the United States, and guns are difficult to purchase legally. Until recently, licenses issued by the Interior Ministry were limited to firearms for hunting and target shooting. In 2014, the Russian Parliament passed an amendment to an existing law, allowing weapons to be licensed for self-defense, but the Interior Ministry stressed that they could not be lethal weapons.
In a speech to lawmakers last October, Gen. Viktor Zolotov, the head of Russia’s National Guard, said the country was “not ready” for mass gun ownership.
“All situations and all domestic conflicts can influence the use of weapons,” he said at the time. “When a person is under strong emotional stress, he or she could use firearms with a valid reason and without it.”
General Zolotov did not mention the dangers of hunting dogs.
Russian Hunter Fatally Shot by His Own Dog
Investigators in the southern region of Saratov said in a statement that a 64-year-old man had died of abdominal wounds sustained while unloading his Estonian Hounds from his car on Sunday.
“The gun was on his knee, butt down, with the barrel pointed at his stomach,” one investigator, Aleksandr Galanin, told a local news outlet, citing a relative who described the events that had led to the hunter’s death. Once released from the car, Mr. Galanin said, an excited dog jumped on the hunter, hitting the trigger of his double-barreled TOZ-34 shotgun.
“A rather experienced hunter has died,” Mr. Galanin said. “He was sober, he had a firearms license. Everything was in order. It was an accident.”
The 64-year-old was named by local media as Sergei Terekhov. Several photographs posted on his profile on the Russian social media platform Odnoklassniki showed him with a hunting rifle and dogs.
Russia’s weapons laws are more stringent than those in the United States, and guns are difficult to purchase legally. Until recently, licenses issued by the Interior Ministry were limited to firearms for hunting and target shooting. In 2014, the Russian Parliament passed an amendment to an existing law, allowing weapons to be licensed for self-defense, but the Interior Ministry stressed that they could not be lethal weapons.
In a speech to lawmakers last October, Gen. Viktor Zolotov, the head of Russia’s National Guard, said the country was “not ready” for mass gun ownership.
“All situations and all domestic conflicts can influence the use of weapons,” he said at the time. “When a person is under strong emotional stress, he or she could use firearms with a valid reason and without it.”
General Zolotov did not mention the dangers of hunting dogs.
Russian Hunter Fatally Shot by His Own Dog
