Anti Hunting Help [please answer questionnaire]

[bigdaddy]

My high school son is doing a paper on anti hunting and would like to ask 3 or 4 questions to anyone that would like to respond. Any help would certainly be appreciated.

[hoodedclawjen]

fire away. :) post them here and people can reply.

[Skylark]

To be clear, it does need to be you and not your son using your account. If he wants to post, he needs to have his own account. Just trying to avoid confusion. Thanks!

[Nosferatofu]

Is this some kind of joke?^ My dear, you have a future in bureaucracy!

I too would be happy to entertain questions so long as I know what his position on the topic is.

[vanahera]

I would be willing to answer questions as well.

I had a couple of links to articles showing the decrease in the size of deer (no joke) due to excess "trophy" hunting somewhere. I'll go dig them up. xD

[bigdaddy]

Thank you I will ask for him. This is debate so he will need to be able to defend both sides thus he is going to interview a hunter as well just so everyone knows. He will need to remain neutral and I think personally this will allow him to see both side with open eyes. He had a hard time writing questions because he really does not have an opinion. He is an animal lover and always has been, could really care less about hunting, more about sports.
1. Why do you find hunting to be inhumane?
2. Have you ever been hunting?
3. Does over hunting threaten a species?
4. What is your stance on High Fence game enclosures that protect certain Trophys? The reason he asks this is because there are quite a few game ranches in Texas.
5. Should this be a political platform for candidates rather than gun control?

Thank you all so much and please remember we would like as much info and statistics as possible, he needs to be able to argue this against a pro hunting person.

[bigdaddy]

Is anyone going to be able to answer?

[hoodedclawjen]

1. Why do you find hunting to be inhumane?

because it's sneaking up on and killing someone for fun. the fact that the someone is an animal doesn't make much odds to me... if you snuck up on a load of unsuspecting people in a mall with a shotgun and took the biggest one out, cut off his head and stuck it to your living room wall, i doubt you'd get a trophy or the respect of your peers. neither should you for doing so to a tiger or deer or anyone else. a bit part of the ideal of 'humanity' to me is having empathy and sympathy for others pain, and showing compassion. hunters don't seem to have this.



2. Have you ever been hunting?

nope. my neighbour goes all the time though. its horrible. he boasts about how many of which animal he's killed, and tries to justify it, stroking his pet cat the whole time.


3. Does over hunting threaten a species?

yep. historically many species have been hunted to extinction. in the UK we hunted bears, wolves, boars and other native animals out centuries ago. same thing has happened elsewhere.

what really disturbs me is when hunters see an animals numbers starting to decline, and then instead of thinking "oooh, we should stop shooting at them and let them be, maybe" they start preservation programs designed to keep the numbers up so they can keep shooting them for fun. :dizzy:


4. What is your stance on High Fence game enclosures that protect certain Trophys? The reason he asks this is because there are quite a few game ranches in Texas.

protecting animals by keeping them locked up and safe so they or others can be killed later, is just as screwed up as killing them for fun in the first place, if not more. in fact i'd say its probably worse than killing them in the wild- where at least they get to go about the business of having a bit of freedom before they get snuffed out for someones entertainment. and seeing dead animals heads as a trophy to be proud of... just bizzare. its not like its a fair fight or anything. if people want to shoot animals, they should use a camera.


5. Should this be a political platform for candidates rather than gun control?

maybe but it won't be. too many people get off on blowing other creatures away for fun, and would resent having this 'sport' taken from them. its not like guns are a good idea for any reason. :(



... bigdaddy i've changed your thread title and redirected the thread to somewhere where it might get more traffic. :)

[amaroque]

1. Why do you find hunting to be inhumane?
Unnecessary killing and suffering has always been and will always be inhumane. Additionally, unless the hunter kills on the first shot, the animal is wounded and in pain and will usually run off to likely die alone and in pain. I also find setting traps that don't kill especially cruel and by definition, inhumane.

2. Have you ever been hunting?
No, and I never will. The thought of it sickens me.

3. Does over hunting threaten a species?
I guess it would depend on the range of the species habitat and whether or not the over hunting was uniform across that habitat.

4. What is your stance on High Fence game enclosures that protect certain Trophys?
It would equivalent to executing a death row inmate by shooting him in his or her cell. All animals should have the right and the ability to fight for their own lives. By restricting them within enclosures its like shooting fish in a barrel.

5. Should this be a political platform for candidates rather than gun control?
I guess I would rather favor gun control as I feel that overall guns are responsible for more suffering in the world. Not many people are killed by bow and arrows, but both people and animals are killed by guns.

[stanie]

1. Why do you find hunting to be inhumane?

Hunting is a sport, and an unfair "sport" at that. If a man, wants to hunt an animal, with his feet and hands, that could be classes as more of a sport, but to track down an animal to kill it with a high powered rifle is hardly fair.
Hunting is responsible for many species to become extinct over the years. This extinction often has a bad effect on that eco system ,as every animal is important to that habitat, with one species gone, it starts to eat away at that eco system.
2. Have you ever been hunting?

Yes, but from the opposite side, to prevent the hunters from killing.
3. Does over hunting threaten a species?

Many species have been hunted to extinction.

4. What is your stance on High Fence game enclosures that protect certain Trophys? The reason he asks this is because there are quite a few game ranches in Texas.

They are still wrong. There is no defensive argument to needlessly kill animals.

5. Should this be a political platform for candidates rather than gun control?

I dont understand the question.

[penny79]

[QUOTE=bigdaddy;2526344]
1. Why do you find hunting to be inhumane?
I don't know about the word "humane" here. I mean, people use the phrase "humane slaughter," so I'm not sure "humane" has any meaning. Why I am opposed to hunting is because it's unnecessary; we don't need to eat/kill any other animals in order to survive, so why should we, considering they feel pain; it's unfair to the other animals who are unarmed/equipped; it's violent and unsafe.


2. Have you ever been hunting?
I was forced to go with my dad a few times when I was younger, but I merely walked around. I did see a few deer hanging up in our garage. :(


3. Does over hunting threaten a species?
What does "over hunting" mean to you? I think any hunting is "over hunting" considering it's not necessary. I think species are threatened by our pesticide/poison use and other pollution, our land overuse and boundaries we impose upon other species, and in general our violence and insecurities as humans in general (obviously not vegans).
When people refer to certain animal overpopulations, what they fail to consider is that the overpopulation exists because humans themselves killed off prey or a predator.

4. What is your stance on High Fence game enclosures that protect certain Trophys? The reason he asks this is because there are quite a few game ranches in Texas.
I'm sorry, but I don't know those terms. "Trophies"? "High Fence"? If it's exploited animals or enclosing them for human use, I am against it.

5. Should this be a political platform for candidates rather than gun control?
Conversation and debate over gun use/control and hunting is a suitable subject for a political platform. Don't need to exclude one in favor of another.

[vanahera]

1. Why do you find hunting to be inhumane?

While I detest the word "humane," I do not believe the taking a life at the drop of a hat is morally acceptable. There is an enormous difference between the starving wolf pack that takes the weaker deer and the human hunter who takes the trophy buck and, while laughing, poses with its corpse for pictures and brags about his/her kill. Having to hunt for survival is something I could tolerate, though I could never like it, but doing it mainly for "fun" is simply not acceptable to me. I've seen animals die, and there is nothing "fun" about it, nothing to brag about, nothing to laugh about. I feel that laughing and posing with dead bodies is highly insulting and shows that the hunter has no respect at all for the animal. Even if that trophy animal was eaten, I still feel that it was a waste of life.


2. Have you ever been hunting?

Not myself, though I have family members who have hunted, I've watched hunting shows before and have seen conversations on hunting forums, mainly because I wanted to understand the mindset of these trophy hunters. I prefer to go directly to the source when debating a topic, and in past arguments on hunting, I've often been able to provide direct quotes and photos from these hunters. Unfortunately, they often deny the accuracy, despite it coming directly from them.


3. Does over hunting threaten a species?

It depends, in some cases. When it comes to predators such as coyotes, over hunting will actually stimulate breeding and increase the number of predators. Below is a letter from the leading coyote biologist. You can find it on coyoteinfo.typepad.com or coyoterescue.org

http://www.predatordefense.org/docs/coyotes_letter_Dr_Crabtree_11-04-97.pdf

Also, a quote from a coyote hunter, "I have always said "shoot 5 and go back in a week and there will be 10." Yet, that same hunter, I suspect, would probably turn around to non-hunters and tell them that the coyotes are "overpopulated" and need to be killed. In the case of wolves, hunting definitely is a threat to their numbers, seeing as wolves were exterminated in the United States and could not be seen for several years. Most hunters these days are not attempting to wipe out a species. Rather, they are trying to keep the animals heavily populated to ensure they can continue hunting them, thus defeating the "overpopulation" line.

The same hypocrisy has been observed with deer. People have told me, "we MUST hunt the deer or else they'll starve!" but those same exact people will also turn around and hunt their natural predators. Another flaw in that argument is that it's rarely the starving deer that are killed. Rather, it's always the healthiest, strongest ones that are killed. We humans claim we are the ultimate predator, yet we do the exact opposite of what predators in nature do--we kill the strongest, whereas predators such as wolves and sharks kill the weakest.


4. What is your stance on High Fence game enclosures that protect certain Trophys? The reason he asks this is because there are quite a few game ranches in Texas.

As much as I dislike hunting in the open wild, I hate this kind of hunting even more. There is no honor in killing an animal that is trapped in an enclosure, especially not in taking that animal's head and mounting it on a wall just for show.


5. Should this be a political platform for candidates rather than gun control?

I'm afraid I don't know what you mean by this question.

[FreestylePup]

1. Why do you find hunting to be inhumane?
I find it inhumane for one being killing animals. Also the fact that not all animals die right away. They drag on and bleed to death trying to get away from the person who shot them.


2. Have you ever been hunting?
Fishing when I was younger but that's it. I would never go hunting for big game and more recently never go fishing either.


3. Does over hunting threaten a species?
Depending on the species yes. Deer, probably not. Poaching Panda's, Elephants, ect. is illegal but it's still hunting. Yes it does endanger a species. I can name three species I know of that was wiped out by hunting.



4. What is your stance on High Fence game enclosures that protect certain
Trophys? The reason he asks this is because there are quite a few game
ranches in Texas.
I think it is more cruel then wild hunting. In game ranches you are almost gaurenteed to kill the animal. Hunting in a wide range the animal has a small chance that it won't be shot to death.

5. Should this be a political platform for candidates rather than gun control?

Yes

[bigdaddy]

Thank you so much for answering, he is really getting some great info, these are very well thought out answers that I can tell are just as passionate. Im sorry if the questions are a bit confusing but they were written by a 15 yr old :) Alot of your answers really are very eye opening, if anyone would like to hear the responses of hunters just pm me.
THanks again
Kevin