Hunting / Pro or Con?

[dr. fager]

Well I wasn't going to reply, but here's my thoughts. I hunted pheasant a lot with my Dad when I was younger, time I cherish...when our brittany spaniel passed I stopped. I still have a lot of friends and relatives that hunt all sorts of game, even though I choose not too I have no problems with it.

I personally have hit two deer with vehicles...so anyone who doesn't think population control is vital, is a little off base.

[paisjpq]

No one in my family hunts though Vt is a fairly pro hunting state...I don't have a problem with it per se however I do have a problem with 'bounty hunting' such as the 'coyote derby' concept that is becoming more popular around here. I work on a farm that conssists of 300+ acres surrounded on all sides by suburbia--the land is all posted and discharging a firearm within city limits is illegal--our deer herd is stable but never gets out of control because we also have a decent group of coyotes that take care of the very old, very young, and very sick.

[Rupert Pupkin]

You guys already know my view. I am totally against hunting for sport. In my mind, there is no justification to killing animals for fun. If you are talking about people who honestly do it for food, then that's a totally separate debate.

With regard to horseracing, even though I am in the business, I would have to agree that it is a very cruel sport. I don't think that it necessarily has to be a cruel sport. The main reason that I think it's cruel is because they are injecting sore horses legs with cortisone and forcing these horses to run until they either end up crippled or dead from a broken leg. This part of racing should be illegal. There are actually horses out there with bowed tendons who are being forced to run. These horses will positively break down. The best case scenario is that the horse will hurt the tendon so bad that he will never run again and he will be hampered for the rest of his life. The worst case scenario is that the horse will break his leg and be euthanized.

I don't think that racing has to be cruel. If you have a really competent and ethical trainer who only runs his horses once a month and will not run a hurt horse, then I don't think this trainer's horses are being mistreated. But that scenario is the exception to the rule.

I think they should totally change the rules of racing and not allow broken-down horses to race. This would probably put many if not most tracks out of business but that's too bad. If a business can only survive by hurting animals then that business should not be allowed to operate.

[somerfrost]

Originally Posted by Rupert Pupkin

You guys already know my view. I am totally against hunting for sport. In my mind, there is no justification to killing animals for fun. If you are talking about people who honestly do it for food, then that's a totally separate debate.

With regard to horseracing, even though I am in the business, I would have to agree that it is a very cruel sport. I don't think that it necessarily has to be a cruel sport. The main reason that I think it's cruel is because they are injecting sore horses legs with cortisone and forcing these horses to run until they either end up crippled or dead from a broken leg. This part of racing should be illegal. There are actually horses out there with bowed tendons who are being forced to run. These horses will positively break down. The best case scenario is that the horse will hurt the tendon so bad that he will never run again and he will be hampered for the rest of his life. The worst case scenario is that the horse will break his leg and be euthanized.

I don't think that racing has to be cruel. If you have a really competent and ethical trainer who only runs his horses once a month and will not run a hurt horse, then I don't think this trainer's horses are being mistreated. But that scenario is the exception to the rule.

I think they should totally change the rules of racing and not allow broken-down horses to race. This would probably put many if not most tracks out of business but that's too bad. If a business can only survive by hurting animals then that business should not be allowed to operate.

I pretty much agree with everything you say, in fact, you are putting it rather mildly...working in horse rescue, I've seen things that would make you sick, yet the abuses in racing are mild compared to the horrors encountered by dogs, cats, roosters and other animals. An if you've ever been to a slaughter house...my god! PETA did a wonderful undercover expose on Kentucky Fried Chicken a few years ago documenting the unbelievable cruelty they allowed...throwing live birds into boiling water, breaking off beaks, legs...all kinds of purposeful torture. The site is still on the web but it takes a strong stomach to see! We need to stop all of that...man eats meat, that's a given! But the torture and cruelty can't be justified by any spin doctor! All life must be held sacred, animals should be seen as living beings with feelings and not simply property like a damn piece of furniture...man has dominion over the animals, with that should come responsibility and kindness not ....well, you get the idea! A parting thought...nearly all sociopaths, you know folks who torture, rape and kill people, sometimes many people, have a history of cruelty to animals as children!