Is Hunting Cruel?

To clarify, I am an animal lover through and through, I am also a meat eater. I don’t eat as much meat as I used to, for environmental reasons, for economic reasons, and mostly because I feel sorry for the way we treat most of our food animals prior to their ultimate deaths. I don’t hunt, but time has changed my view of hunters, as I learned more about them and more about the way we treat our own food animals, please read on.

For Food

Every day thousands of cattle, pigs, chickens, horses, and even cats and dogs, are killed for food. Animals raised for one purpose only, to die, to be killed. Typically these animals are raised in situations we would not consider to be acceptable if they were somebodies pets. Cramped into crowded enclosures with nothing more to do than eat, drink, and get fat. Their conditions meet the minimal requirements at best. There is no mental stimulation, and death isn’t always quick, nor painless. There have been many cases where animals thought to be dead, weren’t.

A typical Cattle feedlot – no grass – no trees – nothing but days standing and waiting to die.

Hunters try to kill with the first shot, it is not always successful, but a good hunter will pursue the animal to get the final shot in. They want a fast kill. They eat what they they kill. That animal had a good life, it romped and played in the forest. Removing some animals from nature helps those remaining to survive and have an easier time finding food, particularly in the winter. Hunters want the environment to remain in good condition so that next year there will be more game. They follow rules, they can only hunt at certain times of the year, in certain places, and can only shoot certain kinds or ages of animals.

Do the math. If a hunter kills and eats a deer or moose, he is not eating an animal cruelly raised for slaughter, one that had a dull life kept in a pen standing in its own poop, surrounded by other animals doing the same nothing. As such hunting actually can lessen some of the cruelty brought about for other animals.

Cheating?

Some hunters bait the animals to a salt lick or by putting out feed. While this may be unethical, it does not make it any more or any less cruel. It’s making the hunters job easier, involves less of a “hunt”, but the end result is the same. An animal who had a good life, is dead, and now can feed people.

Trophy Hunters

Trophy hunters are a different matter. Trophy hunters are self serving, they want a “Big Head” on their wall, and nothing more. While they may eat the meat, they also make a point of removing the strongest animal from the environment, thus reducing the good genetics in the remaining breeding stock. For this reason trophy hunting is not on the same level as is hunting strictly for food.

Poachers

Poachers are people who hunt illegally, either out of season, on land where hunting is not allowed, or they take down animals who they are not supposed to. Poaching is the worst kind of hunting there is. Poachers don’t care about anyone other than themselves, they may be poaching animals strictly for food use, or for trophy, but either way they hurt the animal population by taking endangered animals or animals who are looking after their young. Some poachers don’t even take what they kill, they are only after part of the animal, and leave the rest to waste.

Disclaimer on Leg Traps

When I refer to hunting I am talking about people who hunt with guns, or even bow and arrow, as opposed to those who hunt using leg hold traps. These traps are indeed very cruel and are banned from use in many places. They cannot discriminate between what kind of animal steps into them, and they inflict pain on the animal for hours or days before it is found and finally shot by the “hunter” who set the traps. It may even be found by predator, and with no means to escape, come to an unfair end. I would never endorse the use of leg traps for the purpose of hunting for food, or fur. There is no denial, these traps are cruel!

Photos from Wikimedia