animal welfare <-- back to film clips home <-- back to Originally posted in December 2021 The cartoon below is not the slightest bit like fiction. I heard the heart-wrenching, spiritually devastating, unending wailing of a pheasant whose mate Bart -- who was completely domesticated -- had killed for sport while I was out of sight. My dogs have always known that they are not allowed to take one step towards wildlife. He was strongly scolded -- apparently strongly enough -- as there were no further tragedies. Hunting creates devastating emotional suffering. Roughly speaking: Without hunting, wildlife populations eventually self- regulate. The proclivity to breed is dependent on the environment. With planning, our farms would survive; and all lives would be better. We can co-exist better with wildlife if we were more willing. The DNR plants crops solely for the purpose of spurring excessive population growth of deer so that people can shoot them for pleasure. As an aside: The meat from recreational hunting is costing hunters 60 dollars per pound, not including expenses for hunting property, hunting cabins/shacks, hunting trailers or time spent on the activity or time spent traveling. Even the most efficient hunter cannot compete with the cost of eggs or milk (or livestock meat) when they walk away with 70 pounds of venison -- with the costs of lying in wait, hauling, butchering, making cuts, wrapping and storing. The meat from recreational fishing is costing fishers 830 dollars per pound, not including time spent on the activity or time spent traveling. The money issue is an aside, as the term "recreational" is hard to accept. Long ago, I had the experience of casting into shore as part of rock-bass fishing, and it was a bit of fun -- much like playing horseshoe. But it's not fun for the fish, who did not sign up for it. ---- If you're convinced that you need fish or fish oil to obtain adequate EPA and DHA, and you don't trust your body to convert enough of the ALA in walnuts or flax to EPA and DHA, and you don't trust the companies who sell algae products (algal oil) to provide you with enough EPA and DHA, then you'll fish for "survival" I guess -- just like poor people living in poor countries who don't have good access to plant sources of omega 3. There is no consensus on how much EPA and DHA people need. The U.S. National Academy of Medicine has established recommended intakes for plant-based ALA omega-3s but offers no official daily guideline or Recommended Dietary Allowance for EPA and DHA. ---- It's bad enough that there is carnivorism, and bad enough that humans ever hunted or fished to survive. But sport? Even "catch and release" fishing causes extreme trauma during the capture as well as frequent episodes of agonizing death after fish are released. My uncle Lester hunted annually his entire life. Then, at age 82, he had a doe in his rifle-sight when he suddenly saw the doe for what she was and couldn't pull the trigger.
I cannot and will not accept this:Above: heinous Tim Walz "I guarantee you he can't shoot pheasants like I can" - Tim Walz
Little Audrey and her air rifle 4 min 23 sec Set media player volume to 100 and speaker volume to 20. Cartoon begins two seconds after clicking "play". animal welfare <-- back to film clips home <-- back to