I've seen in the past the explanation that hunting as a sport under the excuse of 'controlling the population of prey animals' is bullshit because in a short time the Department of Fish and Wildlife actually begins stocking and raising more deer for hunters to hunt.

I'm looking to form a good collection of sources that can be cited when someone brings up "hunting as a necessary evil" and associated arguments.

  • pocket_tofu [she/her,fae/faer]
    ·
    4 years ago

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wild_animal_suffering

    "Wildlife science per se can rarely demonstrate that any decision leading to a management objective, such as decreasing a deer population, or to a management action, such as hunting animals, is a biological or ecological necessity. … Similarly, the decision to harvest a portion of a wildlife population is a reflection of a value position, a conclusion based partly on scientific evidence and efficacy of known alternatives and partly on particular beliefs about the appropriateness of certain human uses of wild animals (Kennedy 1985)."

    "If a professional wildlife manager suggests that a decision is based solely on scientifically-derived biological considerations, the manager either misunderstands the nature of science (by confusing scientific judgements with ethical judgements) (Underwood and Porter 1991) or is deliberately trying to disguise or complement a value judgement under the veil of the legitimacy of science."

    --Ethical and Scientific Judgements in Management: Beware of Blurred Distinctions

    I'm no primitivist, but capitalism means we always have to grow and exploit the natural world more and more. But the answer isn't to murder humans. That's Malthusian bullshit. We don't have to keep exploiting the natural world. Line doesn't have to go up. The answer is to destroy capitalism.

    We're leftists, aren't we? When our system is unjust, we fight for a new system. Don't throw up your hands and go, well, "it's more humane to murder sentient individuals than it is to let them suffer in the system we designed." A Modest Proposal is no more convincing for deer than it is for people. Try again.

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    Everyone is welcome to edit and improve this, btw.