Drizzt
Member
State-sponsored killing is no family value
01/22/03
MATT ROSSELL
W earing a bunny suit protesting the "Family Rabbit Hunt" didn't help me understand what it's like to be in their skin, but spending an afternoon with hunters at the E.E. Wilson Wildlife Area north of Corvallis revealed what these critters are up against. Oregonians should hold accountable the mastermind of such events, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife.
The point of protesting: An Oregon state agency shouldn't promote blood sports as "family fun," especially to recruit shotgun-wielding children to kill rabbits harassed by hounds. The agency's head commissioner, John Esler, a hunter himself, uses the agency to promote hunting. Based on recent public outcry, many Oregonians disagree.
A flood of calls, e-mails and letters persuaded Department of Fish and Wildlife commissioners to postpone the hunt and hear people out during their meeting. Every hunting lobbyist and their cousin weighed in, and the rhetoric was flying. Some claimed hunting manages wildlife, as if the critters couldn't manage without help. This rationalization is largely based on deer overpopulations that comprise only 4.5 percent of the animals killed by hunters. The rest -- mourning doves, squirrels, rabbits, waterfowl and thousands of predators -- are not overpopulated, and few biologists would argue they need to be hunted.
A few vowed to hunt without the state's blessing, and I followed on Jan. 11 to document and bear witness. In the daylong drizzle I soon found the family hunting party. Only eight of the 27 original participants showed. We searched for a topic to soothe the tension and found it in our mutual love for dogs and the outdoors. I learned about hunting and distracted them from the kill. Maybe that's why, thankfully, no animal lost its life during our time in the bush.
I watched intently as Molly, Copper and Sunny sniffed around thickets. They began howling, each in its own unique beagle voice, when they picked up the scent of a rabbit, which also has an individual personality.
Rabbit hunting consists of standing around and waiting for a dog to flush out a rabbit to be blasted with a shotgun -- a cowardly contest in my opinion, which I kept to myself. Only when a shot rang out in the calm was I reminded of the distinct difference that separated us. The very thing that would have ruined my experience would have been their highlight. A dead animal.
When I was about 12, the age of the youngest participants in the Jan. 11 hunt, I killed a rabbit. What keeps coming back to me was my disconnection from that rabbit's life. I knew the gun was deadly. I aimed and pulled the trigger. But for some reason I didn't think I would kill her. I remember hiding her body under leaves out of shame and vowed never to kill again. Anyone taking the defenseless life of another sentient being has to have some level of disconnection. Maybe that's why hunters shy away from words like "kill" in favor of "harvest" and are hard-pressed to admit that if their shot isn't clean, their victims often escape to suffer and die slowly.
The bottom line in blood sports seems to be blood money. Although five times more people enjoy nonconsumptive wildlife activities, hunters spend billions annually. Because state agencies get revenue from hunting licenses, they have a vested interest in recruiting new hunters. Programs such as Oregon's "Becoming an Outdoor Woman" encourage women and children to be hunting consumers.
But we must give hunters due credit. Representing only 10 percent of Oregon's population, they have managed to run roughshod over the Department of Fish and Wildlife. These clever, self-appointed custodians of wildlife are making decisions that favor their interests, and the hunting lobby is outraged if even a single hunt is canceled. It's time the vast majority of Oregon's more gentle folks who have evolved into a "take only pictures, leave only footprints" philosophy speak up about enjoying Oregon's wildlife while it's still alive.
Matt Rossell of Portland is Northwest outreach coordinator for California-based In Defense of Animals.
http://www.oregonlive.com/commentary/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/editorial/1043240193188221.xml
I truly have no words....... :banghead:
01/22/03
MATT ROSSELL
W earing a bunny suit protesting the "Family Rabbit Hunt" didn't help me understand what it's like to be in their skin, but spending an afternoon with hunters at the E.E. Wilson Wildlife Area north of Corvallis revealed what these critters are up against. Oregonians should hold accountable the mastermind of such events, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife.
The point of protesting: An Oregon state agency shouldn't promote blood sports as "family fun," especially to recruit shotgun-wielding children to kill rabbits harassed by hounds. The agency's head commissioner, John Esler, a hunter himself, uses the agency to promote hunting. Based on recent public outcry, many Oregonians disagree.
A flood of calls, e-mails and letters persuaded Department of Fish and Wildlife commissioners to postpone the hunt and hear people out during their meeting. Every hunting lobbyist and their cousin weighed in, and the rhetoric was flying. Some claimed hunting manages wildlife, as if the critters couldn't manage without help. This rationalization is largely based on deer overpopulations that comprise only 4.5 percent of the animals killed by hunters. The rest -- mourning doves, squirrels, rabbits, waterfowl and thousands of predators -- are not overpopulated, and few biologists would argue they need to be hunted.
A few vowed to hunt without the state's blessing, and I followed on Jan. 11 to document and bear witness. In the daylong drizzle I soon found the family hunting party. Only eight of the 27 original participants showed. We searched for a topic to soothe the tension and found it in our mutual love for dogs and the outdoors. I learned about hunting and distracted them from the kill. Maybe that's why, thankfully, no animal lost its life during our time in the bush.
I watched intently as Molly, Copper and Sunny sniffed around thickets. They began howling, each in its own unique beagle voice, when they picked up the scent of a rabbit, which also has an individual personality.
Rabbit hunting consists of standing around and waiting for a dog to flush out a rabbit to be blasted with a shotgun -- a cowardly contest in my opinion, which I kept to myself. Only when a shot rang out in the calm was I reminded of the distinct difference that separated us. The very thing that would have ruined my experience would have been their highlight. A dead animal.
When I was about 12, the age of the youngest participants in the Jan. 11 hunt, I killed a rabbit. What keeps coming back to me was my disconnection from that rabbit's life. I knew the gun was deadly. I aimed and pulled the trigger. But for some reason I didn't think I would kill her. I remember hiding her body under leaves out of shame and vowed never to kill again. Anyone taking the defenseless life of another sentient being has to have some level of disconnection. Maybe that's why hunters shy away from words like "kill" in favor of "harvest" and are hard-pressed to admit that if their shot isn't clean, their victims often escape to suffer and die slowly.
The bottom line in blood sports seems to be blood money. Although five times more people enjoy nonconsumptive wildlife activities, hunters spend billions annually. Because state agencies get revenue from hunting licenses, they have a vested interest in recruiting new hunters. Programs such as Oregon's "Becoming an Outdoor Woman" encourage women and children to be hunting consumers.
But we must give hunters due credit. Representing only 10 percent of Oregon's population, they have managed to run roughshod over the Department of Fish and Wildlife. These clever, self-appointed custodians of wildlife are making decisions that favor their interests, and the hunting lobby is outraged if even a single hunt is canceled. It's time the vast majority of Oregon's more gentle folks who have evolved into a "take only pictures, leave only footprints" philosophy speak up about enjoying Oregon's wildlife while it's still alive.
Matt Rossell of Portland is Northwest outreach coordinator for California-based In Defense of Animals.
http://www.oregonlive.com/commentary/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/editorial/1043240193188221.xml
I truly have no words....... :banghead:
(I don't think...nature vs nurture and all that) 
