Apart from individual hunters, there are many pro-hunting agencies and groups that are known as conservationists or wildlife management bodies. Their argument in supporting hunting is that they are doing it to conserve, balance natural populations and humanely kill weak starved animals that will otherwise suffer and prevent overpopulation. These are the same institutions that issue hunting licenses and make a profit out of it. But there is a problem to this rationale- that hunting is done for the betterment of wildlife.
Hunting plus pro-hunting attitudes can lead to:
1. Pollution – Not all hunters are disciplined. Some leave litter in otherwise untouched areas. Bottles, food wrapping, cigarettes and other synthetic material are part of the problem.
2. Disturbing wildlife – When man enters wild territory, he leaves his scent, his footprints and the smoke of his firing gun. These may seem trivial to us but they induce stress in wild animals. They realize that there is an intruder lurking about. Their routine behavior, especially feeding and reproduction become affected. They spend more time on being on guard. So hunters, whether they kill or not, are ignoring the freedom of wildlife.
3. Disrupting populations – Some pro-hunting groups target the natural predators of game animals, such as lions. This is to make sure that there are enough targets for hunters. But these practices go against nature and put some species at risk of extinction. Although hunters say that they are shooting and killing animals to contain populations, in reality this is not the case. It’s even difficult to get the true numbers of animals being killed, as some hunters resort to illegal actions.
4. Overpopulation- You may have heard wildlife agencies putting bans on hunting female members of the population, to avoid affecting reproduction. But what they don’t say out loud is that this is quite an ineffective method of population control. As the percentage of females to males increases disproportionately, it can even lead to overpopulation.
5. Injury to humans and pets – This is no exaggeration. Even with anti hunting laws in place, there have been many cases where innocent bystanders / domesticated animals have been shot by mistake.
6. Injuring/maiming animals – No one can argue against the fact that hunting causes suffering and pain to the prey. With the technology available today, game animals stand no chance against man. Animals such as deer are naturally programmed to act in defense and to bolt when they see possible predators from a certain distance. But thanks to the rifle and the scope, a man can shoot from a distance of 400 yards and make the kill. There are countless numbers of animals that have been shot at and die a slow death. |
