Should Animals Be Hunted (E.G. Commercial Big Game Hunting, State License Hunting) - Essay Example

Should Animals Be Hunted (E.G. Commercial Big Game Hunting, License Hunting)? Should Animals Be Hunted (E.G. Commercial Big Game Hunting, State License Hunting)? Introduction Hunting can be considered as the practice of trapping of animals with the intention of killing them. Although this practice was a vital part of the survival of humans 100,000 years ago, it is now considered a violent form of recreation that a majority of hunters do not require for subsistence (National Research Council, 1995). This is because it has contributed heavily to the endangerment, extinction, and extirpation of animal species globally. Less than 5% of the population which accounts for 13.7 million people in the United States hunts animals, yet hunting is allowed in numerous national forests, state parks, wildlife refuges and other public lands (U.S. Fish and Wildfire Service, 2012). Nearly 40% of the hunters injure and slaughter millions of animals every year on public land, and according to some approximations, poachers equally kill the same illegally (U.S. Fish and Wildfire Service, 2012). Presently, advocates supporting hunting suggest that hunting is an essential factor of modern management of wildlife, for instance, to assist in maintaining a population of healthy animals within the carrying capacity of the environment when known natural checks, such as predators are not present. In light of this, a debate materializes as to whether animals should be hunted or not. In this paper, we will support the argument that states animals should not be hunted for game unless the benefit of the animals being hunted outweighs their survival in a particular place. The following argument will illustrate our reasons for supporting this argument. Why are animals hunted? Animals are mostly hunted because they provide food and skin for making shoes, bags, and other items. Animals are also hunted in what is known as poaching or game because of their valuable body parts, such as tusks or just as a trophy. Exotic animals, such as rhinos, elephants, lions, and tigers are mainly hunted and killed for the aim of providing hunters with an animal trophy. These exotic animals are subjected into “canned hunts” where hunters pay to kill them. These animals could be from the native land, or raised somewhere else and purchased from people who traffic unwanted animals from African animal parks, circuses, and zoos. Canned hunts are considered lucrative businesses in the United States, with about 1,000 game reserves having 5,000 “exotic ranchers” in the North America region (CBS News, 2015). The country’s biggest private land owner, Ted Turner, permits hunters to make payments of thousands of dollars in order to kill deer, turkey, African antelopes, and bison on his land of about 2 million acres (Poole, 2007). Animals confined in ranches are usually used to human beings and are not able to escape from the confined place they are in. With no federal laws to regulate the practices of hunting animals, animals will continue to endure suffering and pain. Let us examine how animals endure suffering and pain. How do animals suffer from hunting? Numerous animals that are being hunted suffer long painful death when they are harmed but not killed by hunters. In a study conducted on 80 white tailed deer using a radio collar, it was found that of the 80 deer, 22 deer that got shot with archery equipment, 11 of them were wounded and never collected by the hunters (Ditchkoff, 1998). The deer that were never collected by hunters starved to death because they could not fend for themselves. 11% of the deer, who the hunters killed, died after being shot more than two times and before dying, some deer suffered prolonged pain of over 15 minutes before dying. Hunting also disrupts hibernation and migration patterns and destroys animal families. Animals, such as wolves that live in close units as a family and mate for life, may be affected by the effect of hunting that can be devastating to their entire family of wolves where they live. For instance, animals get stress when they are being hunted because of fear of being killed, inescapable loud noises and other types of commotions created by hunters. Due to stress, animals, such as wolves experience hardship in finding their prey to eat, making it difficult for them to store the energy and fat needed in order to survive winter.This results in them migrating to other areas for the purpose of surviving the hunters and hunting animals, such as deer for survival. Therefore, to ensure disruption of migration patterns and families are not destroyed, hunting needs to be abolished in favor of the natural order that states nature can take care of animals without the interruption of human beings. Can nature take care of animals? The ecosystem ensures that the delicate balance of the survival of animals is guaranteed if left unchanged by human being’s activities, such as hunting of animals for game. Natural predators assist in maintaining this delicate balance by killing the weakest and sickest animals. However, hunters kill healthy animals who they can find to satisfy their different needs including killing animals as a form of game, trophy or the famous poaching of animals for tusks. The poaching of elephants and rhinos for tusks worldwide is believed to have increased the number of animals without tusks in Africa (Whitfield, 2003). In the last 40 years in Canada, hunting has resulted in bighorn horns of sheep to fall by 25% (Whitfield, 2003). In case hunting of animals, especially poaching continues globally, the number of animal species will decrease rapidly, resulting in extinction of specific species, such as the African rhinos and elephants. A report in Nature Magazine suggests that the decrease of animals may have an effect on the population’s genetics because the weakest animals will pass weak genes to their offspring causing an entire species to have defects. Therefore, it is better for hunters to let nature kill the weak and sick animals for the preservation of the ecosystem. Sometimes, hunters argue that letting many animals live from one species may result in the eradication of another species. This may be true especially when an unusual natural occurrence causes the population of one species to overpopulate. However, nature usually has natural processes at work reducing that overpopulated species through diseases and starvations. Through diseases and starvation, nature ensures that the overpopulated species is reduced to stable population with only healthy and strong animals surviving to maintain that particular species. A hunter who shoots an animal because he/she thinks the animal from a specific species may get sick or starve is destructive and illogical. Another issue with hunting has to do with exotic game animals. If exotic animals, such as lions and tigers, escape and thrive in a place not intended for them, they may pose a threat to the native ecosystem and established wildlife. For instance, wild lions from Africa taken to the United States animal park may kill all the animals in the park because those animals are not used to the constant harsh conditions of running away from lions. Therefore, exotic animals, such as lions should be left where nature intended them to be in order to control the animal population. However, what measures can be taken in case the population of one particular species overpopulates a particular area and nature seems to be unable to reduce the population? Let us look at this in detail. Are there any solutions to prevent overpopulation of animals? In case nature is not able to control the overpopulation of a specific species of animals, human intervention may be required. In the US, there are over 20 million deer, and because hunting has been proven ineffective in reducing the population of deer, several agencies taking care of wildlife are looking into other techniques of managing the overpopulating population of deer and other animals (Ditchkoff, 1998). Studies that have been conducted put forward the idea that sterilization is an effective and a long term solution to control overpopulation of deer and other animals (Boulanger, Curtis, Cooch & Denicola, 2012). In the same studies, suggestions have been made to use a method known as “trap, neuter, and return” where a birth control vaccine is given to a female deer. This study draws lessons from the successful use of human birth control pill. Since human birth control pill works to reduce birth of children, the same can be applied to animals, but in this case, a vaccine is created and injected into animals in order to prevent them from giving birth. This may be an effective method of birth control. However, because it is difficult to identify animals that are healthy and fertile just by observing them, this method may become ineffective, especially when unhealthy and infertile animals are the ones being given the vaccine. Therefore, another method of controlling the overpopulation of animals is needed. One way is to introduce predators in areas with overpopulated animals, such as deer. An animal like a tiger may be effective in reducing the overpopulated population of deer. The problem with this method of using predators is that it may not be possible to reduce the number of the overpopulated deer population because their birth rate is higher than death rate. Therefore, wildlife management may be the only solution to reducing the overpopulation of animals. In the United States, managers of wildlife parks are usually part of hunting licensing and regulatory bodies, where rules are set in the manner, conditions and number of animals that may be hunted as game. Moreover, in providing hunting license and regulating the way hunters pursue animals, wildlife managers can successfully reduce and maintain a population of animals and prevent them from overpopulating. This method of providing license to hunt has been utilized in North America where there is an overpopulation of deer (Ditchkoff, 1998). This method has ensured the number of deer has reduced substantially over the years to an acceptable level. So, what is the way forward with this issue of animal hunting? What is the way forward with animal hunting? The issue of animal hunting is still a debatable one. However, some issues as seen in the discussion above need to be taken care of soon. The issue of hunting exotic animals, such as lions, tigers and elephants for trophy should be put to an end. The problem with hunting exotic animals is creating a market for poachers where hunters are willing to pay huge sums of money in order to get a chance to kill for game. This has the effect of endangering some species, specifically elephants and rhinos that are hunted for their tusks. Therefore, heavy prison terms and fines should be introduced to discourage exotic animals from being hunted. In case nature has been unable to control the population of particular species in a particular place, introduction of predators can be effective. However, if predators are not effective in reducing the population, wildlife managers should give out hunting license to allow hunters to reduce a specific number of overpopulated animals from specific species. Conclusion Hunting of animals is a practice that should be discouraged by governments worldwide because it contributes to the extirpation, extinction, and endangerment of many species. In case the animals overpopulate beyond nature’s control, the wildlife managers of animal parks should provide license to hunt only a specific number. In conclusion, the preservation of animal species will depend on the government introducing heavy prison terms and fines to discourage this hunting practice. References Boulanger, J., Curtis, P., Cooch, E., & Denicola, A. (2012). Sterilization as an alternative deer control technique: a review. Human-Wildlife Interactions, 6(2), 273–282. CBS News (2015).Can hunting endangered animals save the species? Retrieved from http://www.cbsnews.com/news/can-hunting-endangered-animals-save-the-species/ Ditchkoff, S., Welch, E., Lochmille, R., Starry, W., & Dinkines, W. (1998). “Wounding rates of white-tailed deer with traditional archery equipment.”Proceedings of the Annual Conference of the Southeastern Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies. National Research Council (1995). Science and the endangered species Act. Washington, D.C: National Academy Press. Poole, R. (2007). Hunters: For love of the land. Retrieved from http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/print/2007/11/hunters/poole-text U.S. Fish and Wildfire Service (2012). 2011 national survey of fishing, hunting, and wildlife-associated recreation. Washington, D.C.: GPO. Whitfield, J. (2003). Sheep horns downsized by hunters taste for trophies. Nature, 426 (6967), 595-595. Read More