Is hunting ethical Essay Example for Free

Is hunting ethical Essay The difference between hunting and killing â€Å"It is 4:00 in the morning as a father and son prepare for a day of elk hunting, Whenever October comes around this father and son know that it is an important month because it is hunting season and they have a chance to provide meat for their family. The day brings success to the hunters as they harvest a male elk and take it back home to share not only the meat but also the memories that were provided by the hunt. † Many people in this world have opinions about hunting saying it is â€Å"unethical† or that it is a cruel form of killing for fun. Hunting is portrayed as an activity that allows humans the right to go out into the wild and harvest an animal or animals just as our ancestors did many years ago, that is a good picture of it but there are many reasons why people hunt other than to get meat shoot a gun or hang out with friends in the outdoors Benefits of hunting Hunting isn’t what most people think, it doesn’t just help the hunters who are getting meat but it helps the population of animals as well. In Colorado alone there are an estimated two thousand elk and 1500 deer taken a year, this seems cruel but hear me out. If a herd of elk gets to big then there will be scarce amounts of food because there many mouths to feed but only so many acres of edible grass and plants to feed them. This problem causes fights and the weaker elk get run out of the herd because of over population, these elk that are disowned by the herd usually die off from starvation or predators. Matt Forsyth a local area hunter says â€Å"my family and I can live for a year on one animal harvested from our hunting trips†. That means that one animal out of the thousands in Colorado can support a family and save an estimated 400 dollars that is usually spent on beef pork and chicken bought from the store. My family relies on meat from my father and I every year, if we are not successful it is a devastating blow on our bank accounts. STATISTICS ABOUT HUNTING 12. 5 million people 16 years old and older enjoyed hunting a variety of animals within the United States. They hunted 220 million days and took 185 million trips. Hunting expenditures totaled $22. 9 billion. An estimated  10. 7 million hunters pursued big game, such as deer and elk, on 164 million days. There were 4. 8 million hunters of small game including squirrels and rabbits. They hunted small game on 52 million days and spent $2. 4 billion on small game hunting trips and equipment. 2. 3 million hunted migratory birds such as doves or waterfowl 1. 1 million hunted other animals such as woodchucks and raccoons. As the above figures state hunting is a very much enjoyed sport that Colorado residents take a very great passion in and I believe it always will be. DISADVANTAGES ABOUT HUNTING Many animals die yearly from accidental death from hunters, accidental death occurs when a hunter mistakes and shoots an animal or the target species he was pursuing. I have seen many accidental deaths as a hunter and it is very sad because I hate to take a life from an animal that did not deserve it, I am not saying all animals deserve to die but if I cannot benefit from the death of an animal then why does it deserve to die? Poaching is also a huge problem in America. I do not like this one part of hunting and I wish it could be eliminated, poaching is when a human illegally harvests an animal without a license. Over 1500 animals are poached each year and many of those animals had their lives taken only for their horns or ivory teeth and tusks. Many people will say that hunting is not right because the animals are helpless and innocent, I say otherwise. At the beginning of time hunting was a major part of life and was a necessity, being the only means of survival. It was a source of food, clothing, and sometimes tools. Hunted animals were know as game animals. The earliest tools used to hunt were bow and arrow and spears, where now in the present we hunt with more powerful weapons like the compound bow and rifle. Having these newer and updated tools man can now hunt with out having to work as hard at killing their prey. Just because it is easier to hunt with the new and improved rifles and bows does not mean that it is easy. I give a lot of credit to the Native Americans because they had it worse than us, they had to run and chase their animals till it was down where as now days you can use an all terrain vehicle or a truck to get deep in the forest. I feel like people do not look past the blood of hunting because it is such a gory part of the process and they feel justified to say that hunters are messed up in the head because would we want to be shot and bleed to death, I wouldn’t but still hunting has evolved from the early ages so humans were just taught that hunting was a way of living. I have been hunting since I was nine and I will admit that there were some parts of the sport that I wish I didn’t see. I hate to see an animal suffer and I have seen my fair share of that, but my plan was not to kill for the thrill or pride of taking down an animal. I did it because it was the meat that my family ate for a whole year and without it we would pay more than five hundred dollars for meat in 6 months because of my large family size. There is always a downside to everything and as much as I love hunting I have to say that there is parts that I do not like. What we see is the aftermath of people going out and killing trophy animals and removing those trophy parts, which would be the antlers or the horns and leaving the carcasses to rot, It is so disrespectful to the wildlife and gives hunting a bad name. (Sarason) Antlers are valuable. They can earn poachers hundreds to tens of thousands of dollars per mount. (Forsyth) Some people do it purely as a business. Theyve detached from their activity. Its just pure dollars and cents. They dont see wildlife as anything other than something you can buy and make a buck, (Sarason) â€Å"it is 4:00 in the morning as a man and his hunting guide sit in a cozy cabin drinking coffee and going over the game plan for the day, this man has paid his guide an estimated 3,000 dollars for this hunt. The day starts off in the truck as they drive to a hillside to see if spotting a herd will bring them luck, sure enough out of the tree’s comes a beautiful male elk with an astoundingly big set of antlers. This is where the 3,000 dollars comes in because this man is on a guided elk hunt that has been set up on a high fenced ranch (the animals have no way to escape or be free), the elk are given special grass and food to grow big antlers. The man shoots the elk takes pictures and leaves the meat with the guides who will charge him an additional 500 bucks to get it cut and delivered to his house† People from around the world come to have supposedly the hunt of a lifetime and partake in an event that our ancestors have done but it is far from what actually happens. Many guided hunts are just slaughter of animals because they have no place to be free and live a life, they shoot the animals and the guide hauls it cuts it and prepares it and all you have to do is pay 3,500 dollars for it which is a deal right? Real hunting is when you pay 300 dollars a year to chase fair game through beautiful mountains and enjoy cutting the meat hauling it and doing all of the stuff that makes hunting what it truly is today. HOW ARE ORGANIZATIONS GETTING INVOLVED Many people have a jaded opinion about hunting because they see tv shows about it and the people always shoot the big animals and it all looks so easy but in reality it is not all that easy, real hunting requires patience love and respect for not only the pastime of it but the animals as well. No person will ever be right about wether it is ethical or if it isn’t but everybody can have a say in what they think is right or what they believe in. hunting is such a controversial subject to many people because just like anything, if you don’t know anything about it you are either really interested or very skeptical and I have found that many people are skeptical. Because of all the modern PETA campaigns many people are upset about hunters going out and harvesting an animal because it is an â€Å"innocent† animal that has been killed for pleasure or thrill. But hunting is an art form and a blessed opportunity for humans to provide their family with meat as well as learn more about the outdoors and life. Many campaigns have been run to stop hunting in many states. These campaigns are put together by PETA a non-profit organization that try’s to outlaw the abuse and neglect of animals, also called animal cruelty. Organizations like PETA are against hunting because they are under the impression that hunting is a cruel form of killing helpless innocent animals which is true somewhat. What they do not understand is that while many animals die every year but true hunters will never kill for the fun of shooting a gun or killing. With a lot of the gun laws that the president is trying to pass maybe all of these animal cruelty organizations wont have to keep fighting hunters because if such laws pass then many Americans will not be able to hunt anymore. Rumor has it that PETA is trying to get all gun laws passed just because of the way that it could help save many animals every year. Hunting is a very controversial subject because it is so important to some people and many families rely on an animal to be harvested every year. Good hunting ethics are not usually covered by written laws. Ethics are a personal code which dictates how we act. It is conduct that is morally right, safe, proper and fair. According to Aldo Leopold, regarded as the â€Å"father† of wildlife management, â€Å"ethical behavior is doing the right thing when no one else is watching- even when doing the wrong thing is legal. † T. D. Carroll, the Father of Texas Hunter Education, once said: â€Å"There are written and unwritten laws. The written laws tell us what we can and cannot do while the unwritten laws tell us what we should and should not do. † HOW WOULD ANIMALS BE AFFECTED IF WE DID NOT HUNT If we didnt hunt animals they would die of starvation and disease. That is why we have regulations on hunting. And that is why bag limits and seasons change yearly. Take for instance the Snow Goose, It is so overpopulated right now that it takes food from animals and fish that are low in population thus the overpopulation of this bird could cause other animals to go extinct. It would not be the hunters causing the extinction. This year there was a conservation order in effect issued by the Colorado Fish and Wildlife Department to hunt as many as you can-no bag limit which seems like a killing frenzy for all of the geese but given the options it really helps all animals. Another instance is with exotic species (species that dont naturally occur in a particular area). For instance here in Colorado, the Mountain Lion does not belong here but It flourishes and if it keeps its pace then it could totally wipe out the population of native species of animals. Thus, the state says you can hunt and kill the Mountain Lion whenever you want and as many as you want, you just have to tell the state where you shot it. Look at the wild pig. Not natural to the United States and now we have a major problem on our hands. They destroy crops and take the food of our natural species. If deer hunting became illegal we would have so many deer in this country no one would be able to drive down the highway without fear of hitting one at 70mph possibly killing the passengers of the vehicle. Or there would be so many deer the food would eventually run out for them causing them to starve to death. Many in Colorado are interested in living a healthy lifestyle, which often includes consuming organically-grown food. â€Å"Locally grown† is becoming an increasingly popular way to enjoy fresh fruit and vegetables and backyard gardens are seeing a resurgence. One of the driving forces for the â€Å"going organic† movement is related to concerns about chemicals and pesticides associated with mass production of our food. Meat from hunting does not go through the chemical-related processes of grocery-store domestic meats. Hunting and eating wild game provides a lean, â€Å"free-range† protein product similar to that of organic food stores. Moreover, for those who hunt, fresh meat procured through hunting offers a â€Å"do-it-yourself† pride and satisfaction similar to that of growing your own garden. Hunting provides healthier food for the hunter and his/her family. I have nothing against farmers, I support them 100%, but theres more protein in the meat of a wild animal than there is a cow, pig, etc. So, more protein means a healthier cut of meat. It only takes one male to reproduce so anybody that says population control isnt a valid reason to hunt isn’t well equipped with the facts of hunting. Since it only takes one male animal, then theres no reason to have older animals that are not healthy reproduce because that would be passing along weaker genes, and that will make that generation of animals weaker. A lot of people say that hunters only shoot the males animals but that shows just how un-educated they are on this subject. I know many people who will kill a female over a male any day. Theres no benefit to just harvesting males and not the females. Each sex needs a specific number harvested to keep the population healthy. Back to the example I used about an older male animal breeding. Same thing goes with female animals. The older they get, the weaker their offspring will be. The less milk theyll produce. The older the animal (males and females), the weaker the state of their body/health. Inbreeding DOES happen where animal populations have exploded. You need a good mix of male and females of different lines so that you will get healthy offspring. Not only for that aspect of population control- if there are too many animals in a given area no matter if they are mostly males or mostly females, the animals will deplete the area of resources- food, water, cover. So, not only will the animals be at a higher risk for diseases/illnesses like rabies or CWD in deer, the land will be greatly affected by it too. The difference between hunting and killing â€Å"It is 4:00 in the morning as a father and son prepare for a day of elk hunting, Whenever October comes around this father and son know that it is an important month because it is hunting season and they have a chance to provide meat for their family. The day brings success to the hunters as they harvest a male elk and take it back home to share not only the meat but also the memories that were provided by the hunt. † Many people in this world have opinions about hunting saying it is â€Å"unethical† or that it is a cruel form of killing for fun. Hunting is portrayed as an activity that allows humans the right to go out into the wild and harvest an animal or animals just as our ancestors did many years ago, that is a good picture of it but there are many reasons why people hunt other than to get meat shoot a gun or hang out with friends in the outdoors Benefits of hunting Hunting isn’t what most people think, it doesn’t just help the hunters who are getting meat but it helps the population of animals as well. In Colorado alone there are an estimated two thousand elk and 1500 deer taken a year, this seems cruel but hear me out. If a herd of elk gets to big then there will be scarce amounts of food because there many mouths to feed but only so many acres of edible grass and plants to feed them. This problem causes fights and the weaker elk get run out of the herd because of over population, these elk that are disowned by the herd usually die off from starvation or predators. Matt Forsyth a local area hunter says â€Å"my family and I can live for a year on one animal harvested from our hunting trips†. That means that one animal out of the thousands in Colorado can support a family and save an estimated 400 dollars that is usually spent on beef pork and chicken bought from the store. My family relies on meat from my father and I every year, if we are not successful it is a devastating blow on our bank accounts. STATISTICS ABOUT HUNTING 12. 5 million people 16 years old and older enjoyed hunting a variety of animals within the United States. They hunted 220 million days and took 185 million trips. Hunting expenditures totaled $22. 9 billion. An estimated 10. 7 million hunters pursued big game, such as deer and elk, on 164 million days. There were 4. 8 million hunters of small game including squirrels and rabbits. They hunted small game on 52 million days and spent $2. 4 billion on small game hunting trips and equipment. 2. 3 million hunted migratory birds such as doves or waterfowl 1. 1 million hunted other animals such as woodchucks and raccoons. As the above figures state hunting is a very much enjoyed sport that Colorado residents take a very great passion in and I believe it always will be. DISADVANTAGES ABOUT HUNTING Many animals die yearly from accidental death from hunters, accidental death occurs when a hunter mistakes and shoots an animal or the target species he was pursuing. I have seen many accidental deaths as a hunter and it is very sad because I hate to take a life from an animal that did not deserve it, I am not saying all animals deserve to die but if I cannot benefit from the death of an animal then why does it deserve to die? Poaching is also a huge problem in America. I do not like this one part of hunting and I wish it could be eliminated, poaching is when a human illegally harvests an animal without a license. Over 1500 animals are poached each year and many of those animals had their lives taken only for their horns or ivory teeth and tusks. Many people will say that hunting is not right because the animals are helpless and innocent, I say otherwise. At the beginning of time hunting was a major part of life and was a necessity, being the only means of survival. It was a source of food, clothing, and sometimes tools. Hunted animals were know as game animals. The earliest tools used to hunt were bow and arrow and spears, where now in the present we hunt with more powerful weapons like the compound bow and rifle. Having these newer and updated tools man can now hunt with out having to work as hard at killing their prey. Just because it is easier to hunt with the new and improved rifles and bows does not mean that it is easy. I give a lot of credit to the Native Americans because they had it worse than us, they had to run and chase their animals till it was down where as now days you can use an all terrain vehicle or a truck to get deep in the forest. I feel like people do not look past the blood of hunting because it is such a gory part of the process and they feel justified to say that hunters are messed up in the head because would we want to be shot and bleed to death, I wouldn’t but still hunting has evolved from the early ages so humans were just taught that hunting was a way of living. I have been hunting since I was nine and I will admit that there were some parts of the sport that I wish I didn’t see. I hate to see an animal suffer and I have seen my fair share of that, but my plan was not to kill for the thrill or pride of taking down an animal. I did it because it was the meat that my family ate for a whole year and without it we would pay more than five hundred dollars for meat in 6 months because of my large family size. There is always a downside to everything and as much as I love hunting I have to say that there is parts that I do not like. What we see is the aftermath of people going out and killing trophy animals and removing those trophy parts, which would be the antlers or the horns and leaving the carcasses to rot, It is so disrespectful to the wildlife and gives hunting a bad name. (Sarason) Antlers are valuable. They can earn poachers hundreds to tens of thousands of dollars per mount. (Forsyth) Some people do it purely as a business. Theyve detached from their activity. Its just pure dollars and cents. They dont see wildlife as anything other than something you can buy and make a buck, (Sarason) â€Å"it is 4:00 in the morning as a man and his hunting guide sit in a cozy cabin drinking coffee and going over the game plan for the day, this man has paid his guide an estimated 3,000 dollars for this hunt. The day starts off in the truck as they drive to a hillside to see if spotting a herd will bring them luck, sure enough out of the tree’s comes a beautiful male elk with an astoundingly big set of antlers. This is where the 3,000 dollars comes in because this man is on a guided elk hunt that has been set up on a high fenced ranch (the animals have no way to escape or be free), the elk are given special grass and food to grow big antlers. The man shoots the elk takes pictures and leaves the meat with the guides who will charge him an additional 500 bucks to get it cut and delivered to his house† People from around the world come to have supposedly the hunt of a lifetime and partake in an event that our ancestors have done but it is far from what actually happens. Many guided hunts are just slaughter of animals because they have no place to be free and live a life, they shoot the animals and the guide hauls it cuts it and prepares it and all you have to do is pay 3,500 dollars for it which is a deal right? Real hunting is when you pay 300 dollars a year to chase fair game through beautiful mountains and enjoy cutting the meat hauling it and doing all of the stuff that makes hunting what it truly is today. HOW ARE ORGANIZATIONS GETTING INVOLVED Many people have a jaded opinion about hunting because they see tv shows about it and the people always shoot the big animals and it all looks so easy but in reality it is not all that easy, real hunting requires patience love and respect for not only the pastime of it but the animals as well. No person will ever be right about wether it is ethical or if it isn’t but everybody can have a say in what they think is right or what they believe in. hunting is such a controversial subject to many people because just like anything, if you don’t know anything about it you are either really interested or very skeptical and I have found that many people are skeptical. Because of all the modern PETA campaigns many people are upset about hunters going out and harvesting an animal because it is an â€Å"innocent† animal that has been killed for pleasure or thrill. But hunting is an art form and a blessed opportunity for humans to provide their family with meat as well as learn more about the outdoors and life. Many campaigns have been run to stop hunting in many states. These campaigns are put together by PETA a non-profit organization that try’s to outlaw the abuse and neglect of animals, also called animal cruelty. Organizations like PETA are against hunting because they are under the impression that hunting is a cruel form of killing helpless innocent animals which is true somewhat. What they do not understand is that while many animals die every year but true hunters will never kill for the fun of shooting a gun or killing. With a lot of the gun laws that the president is trying to pass maybe all of these animal cruelty organizations wont have to keep fighting hunters because if such laws pass then many Americans will not be able to hunt anymore. Rumor has it that PETA is trying to get all gun laws passed just because of the way that it could help save many animals every year. Hunting is a very controversial subject because it is so important to some people and many families rely on an animal to be harvested every year. Good hunting ethics are not usually covered by written laws. Ethics are a personal code which dictates how we act. It is conduct that is morally right, safe, proper and fair. According to Aldo Leopold, regarded as the â€Å"father† of wildlife management, â€Å"ethical behavior is doing the right thing when no one else is watching- even when doing the wrong thing is legal. † T. D. Carroll, the Father of Texas Hunter Education, once said: â€Å"There are written and unwritten laws. The written laws tell us what we can and cannot do while the unwritten laws tell us what we should and should not do. † HOW WOULD ANIMALS BE AFFECTED IF WE DID NOT HUNT If we didnt hunt animals they would die of starvation and disease. That is why we have regulations on hunting. And that is why bag limits and seasons change yearly. Take for instance the Snow Goose, It is so overpopulated right now that it takes food from animals and fish that are low in population thus the overpopulation of this bird could cause other animals to go extinct. It would not be the hunters causing the extinction. This year there was a conservation order in effect issued by the Colorado Fish and Wildlife Department to hunt as many as you can-no bag limit which seems like a killing frenzy for all of the geese but given the options it really helps all animals. Another instance is with exotic species (species that dont naturally occur in a particular area). For instance here in Colorado, the Mountain Lion does not belong here but It flourishes and if it keeps its pace then it could totally wipe out the population of native species of animals. Thus, the state says you can hunt and kill the Mountain Lion whenever you want and as many as you want, you just have to tell the state where you shot it. Look at the wild pig. Not natural to the United States and now we have a major problem on our hands. They destroy crops and take the food of our natural species. If deer hunting became illegal we would have so many deer in this country no one would be able to drive down the highway without fear of hitting one at 70mph possibly killing the passengers of the vehicle. Or there would be so many deer the food would eventually run out for them causing them to starve to death. Many in Colorado are interested in living a healthy lifestyle, which often includes consuming organically-grown food. â€Å"Locally grown† is becoming an increasingly popular way to enjoy fresh fruit and vegetables and backyard gardens are seeing a resurgence. One of the driving forces for the â€Å"going organic† movement is related to concerns about chemicals and pesticides associated with mass production of our food. Meat from hunting does not go through the chemical-related processes of grocery-store domestic meats. Hunting and eating wild game provides a lean, â€Å"free-range† protein product similar to that of organic food stores. Moreover, for those who hunt, fresh meat procured through hunting offers a â€Å"do-it-yourself† pride and satisfaction similar to that of growing your own garden. Hunting provides healthier food for the hunter and his/her family. I have nothing against farmers, I support them 100%, but theres more protein in the meat of a wild animal than there is a cow, pig, etc. So, more protein means a healthier cut of meat. It only takes one male to reproduce so anybody that says population control isnt a valid reason to hunt isn’t well equipped with the facts of hunting. Since it only takes one male animal, then theres no reason to have older animals that are not healthy reproduce because that would be passing along weaker genes, and that will make that generation of animals weaker. A lot of people say that hunters only shoot the males animals but that shows just how un-educated they are on this subject. I know many people who will kill a female over a male any day. Theres no benefit to just harvesting males and not the females. Each sex needs a specific number harvested to keep the population healthy. Back to the example I used about an older male animal breeding. Same thing goes with female animals. The older they get, the weaker their offspring will be. The less milk theyll produce. The older the animal (males and females), the weaker the state of their body/health. Inbreeding DOES happen where animal populations have exploded. You need a good mix of male and females of different lines so that you will get healthy offspring. Not only for that aspect of population control- if there are too many animals in a given area no matter if they are mostly males or mostly females, the animals will deplete the area of resources- food, water, cover. So, not only will the animals be at a higher risk for diseases/illnesses like rabies or CWD in deer, the land will be greatly affected by it too.