Posted by so on May 25, 2005, at 12:28:57
In reply to Re: Internet Hunting ... I just have to jump in, posted by Camille Dumont on May 25, 2005, at 0:45:34
> Think of what you would want, then have the decency of giving that same humane end to those creatures that you kill.
I want to die with my boots on. I don't know of any animals -- other than humans --- that want to wear my shoes.
The rules on this board just confound me. A person is chastend by admin for calling it monsterous to recruit suicide bombers but people can go on at length about my alleged lack of decency for the manner in which I euthenize my pet and gather my food.
When, I wonder, did hunting become indecent? In 1800? Mabye 1776? How about 1500? Perhaps in the "year of our lord" aka "O" or maybe 33 a.d.?
Oddly, firearms became more efficient more recently -- with the invention of smokeless powder, cartridged projectiles and rifled barrel that let hunters deliver more punch more accurately.
Though many people classify their hunting activities as sport, others don't. Some adamently classify it as food gathering, especially in international treaties (regarding hunting of whales and seals by natives), and in other protected hunting practices by aboriginal nations. Is hunting food a privilage reserved as humane only for certain races?
For sake a clarity, head shots are rare and are not the recommended target -- for large game, vital organ shots are the standard. With small game, shotguns land scattershot anywhere in the body. With fish, they as often suffocate for lack of waterflow through the gills. And death for a fish at the hands of an angler is no different than the death they suffer flopping in the hold of a commercial fishing vessel. Unless you refuse to eat fish sticks, you paid someone to kill a fish like that when you buy a fresh salmon steak at the store.
Death by puncture wound to the head in the killing stall of a slaughter house isn't much different, albeit a bit quicker. But then, once wounded, would you rather die sooner or later? How about Terry Schiavo -- people said she should be kept alive no matter how badly injured was her brain. So letting a wounded animial have a few more hours to run in the woods, fueled by adrenaline and endorphines, well that's just more chance to live.
And yes, I've euthanized a pet by gunshot. My very humane neighbors asked that I do so. The death that pet suffered was far more humane than the deaths that neighbor caused or witnessed in the employ of the United States military. His stories made abu graib sound like a frat party by comparison.
How was that pet's death, in a natural setting, flopping for a few seconds after a gunshot to the head after being petted by her favorite human, any less humane than a painful prick to the paw while being held down by strangers on a cold steel table, after a few minutes or hours in a cage in a room full of other frightened animals?
I could go further to explore the ethics of one person or group imposing their values on another, but in the context of this thread, I am more interested in the manner in which values are described, and how that does or does not fulfil the requirements of this site that people not insult others who might not agree with them.
poster:so
thread:498173
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/poli/20050509/msgs/502724.html