Hi Val
This stands for the Office National de la Chasse et de la Faune Sauvage.
This stands for the Office National de la Chasse et de la Faune Sauvage.
I had never heard of this until today. The officers are known as environment police and one of their functions is to control hunting, hunting licenses and so on.
They have a website which is very informative and even has an English page describing what they do: http://www.oncfs.gouv.fr/
They have no shame in describing how hunting is carried out against such things as blackbirds and song thrushes.
You can also look up useful stuff such as when hunting is going to start in your département.
They also publish statistics about hunting accidents and deaths each season but what they don’t say is how many were alcohol related. Today at lunch at the Gazpacho were two ONCFS officers in their smart grey uniforms which include a pistol on the belt. Needless to say they had a few glasses of wine. I was told by the patron that they carry guns because it could be dangerous work because hunters carry weapons !
Imaging the repercussions if an armed English policeman was seen drinking on duty.
