Athlete Injured by Pellets While Training

Silvia is a semi-professional athlete from Tomelloso (Ciudad Real) who frequently competes in professional races. She trains several times a week, running on the outskirts of this town of 36,500 residents. However, one of her recent training sessions ended with her in the hospital after being hit by pellets in the head and an arm.

"I had gone out for a run on a public path. After about three kilometres, I suddenly heard gunshots and felt a burning sensation in my ear and arm," Silvia recounts. "I started looking around to see where the shots were coming from until some hunters approached me and apologised," says the athlete, who has reported the incident to the Civil Guard.

She recalls, "The hunters admitted their recklessness and acknowledged they had mistakenly fired their guns towards a public path." Minutes later, she had to visit the General Hospital of Tomelloso to treat her injuries, "which could have been worse, not just for me but for many people who run or walk in that area, near the A-43, where I have even cycled with my child on many occasions."

"I keep thinking about it because something worse could have happened. It was traumatic for me, I was in shock, and now I have a fear of running there," confesses Silvia, whose next goal is to run the Málaga Marathon on December 14. "My spirits have dropped with everything that has happened, and I'm still processing it, but I will try to be there," explains Silvia, who only asks for justice and for hunters to be aware of the dangers their activity poses if conducted irresponsibly.

"I have nothing against hunting, but there should be more control and safety for those of us who use public paths," adds the athlete, who, after her accident, has had to endure "comments like this happened to me because I went running in the countryside when it's a public path used by people of all ages."

The incident involving this athlete has reignited the debate over hunting near public paths. The current Hunting Law of Castilla-La Mancha prohibits hunting on paths and livestock trails, although it also allows temporary closures of these paths for hunting activities with the necessary permission from regional and municipal authorities. The conditions for such authorisations will be outlined in the new Hunting Regulations of Castilla-La Mancha, which groups like Ecologists in Action, mountain and hiking federations, and sports clubs criticise as serving the interests of the hunting sector's "lobby."