Although it was a crucial part of humans\u2019 survival 100,000 years ago, hunting is now nothing more than a violent form of recreation that the vast majority of hunters do not need for subsistence.(1) Hunting has contributed to the extinction of animal species all over the world, including the Tasmanian tiger and the great auk.(2,3)<\/p>\n
Less than 5 percent of the U.S. population (13.7 million people) hunts, yet hunting is permitted in many wildlife refuges, national forests, and state parks and on other public lands.(40 Almost 40 percent of hunters slaughter and maim millions of animals on public land every year, and by some estimates, poachers kill just as many animals illegally.(5,6)<\/p>\n
Pain and Suffering<\/strong><\/p>\n Many animals endure prolonged, painful deaths when they are injured but not killed by hunters. A study of 80 radio-collared white-tailed deer found that of the 22 deer who had been shot with \u201ctraditional archery equipment,\u201d 11 were wounded but not recovered by hunters.(7)\u00a0 Twenty percent of foxes who have been wounded by hunters are shot again. Just 10 percent manage to escape, but \u201cstarvation is a likely fate\u201d for them, according to one veterinarian.(8) A South Dakota Department of Game, Fish and Parks biologist estimates that more than 3 million wounded ducks go \u201cunretrieved\u201d every year.(9) A British study of deer hunting found that 11 percent of deer who\u2019d been killed by hunters died only after being shot two or more times and that some wounded deer suffered for more than 15 minutes before dying.(10)<\/p>\n Hunting disrupts migration and hibernation patterns and destroys families. For animals such as wolves, who mate for life and live in close-knit family units, hunting can devastate entire communities. The stress that hunted animals suffer\u2014caused by fear and the inescapable loud noises and other commotion that hunters create\u2014also severely compromises their normal eating habits, making it hard for them to store the fat and energy that they need in order to survive the winter.<\/p>\n Nature Takes Care of Its Own<\/strong><\/p>\n The delicate balance of ecosystems ensures their survival\u2014if they are left unaltered. Natural predators help maintain this balance by killing only the sickest and weakest individuals. Hunters, however, kill any animal whose head they would like to hang over the fireplace\u2014including large, healthy animals who are needed to keep the population strong. Elephant poaching is believed to have increased the number of tuskless animals in Africa, and in Canada, hunting has caused bighorn sheep\u2019s horn size to fall by 25 percent in the last 40 years. Nature magazine reports that \u201cthe effect on the populations\u2019 genetics is probably deeper.\u201d(11)<\/p>\n Even when unusual natural occurrences cause overpopulation, natural processes work to stabilize the group. Starvation and disease can be tragic, but they are nature\u2019s ways of ensuring that healthy, strong animals survive and maintain the strength of the rest of their herd or group. Shooting an animal because he or she might starve or get sick is arbitrary and destructive.<\/p>\n Another problem with hunting involves the introduction of exotic \u201cgame\u201d animals who, if they\u2019re able to escape and thrive, pose a threat to native wildlife and established ecosystems.<\/p>\n Canned Cruelty<\/strong><\/p>\n Most hunting occurs on private land, where laws that protect wildlife are often inapplicable or difficult to enforce. On private lands that are set up as for-profit hunting reserves or game ranches, hunters can pay to kill native and exotic species in \u201ccanned hunts.\u201d These animals may be native to the area, raised elsewhere and brought in, or purchased from individuals who are trafficking in unwanted or surplus animals from zoos and circuses. The animals are hunted and killed for the sole purpose of providing hunters with a \u201ctrophy.\u201d<\/p>\n Canned hunts are big business\u2014there are an estimated 1,000 game preserves in the U.S., with some 5,000 so-called \u201cexotic ranchers\u201d in North America.(12,13) Ted Turner, the country\u2019s largest private landowner, allows hunters to pay thousands of dollars to kill bison, deer, African antelopes, and turkeys on his 2 million acres.(14)<\/p>\n Animals on canned-hunting ranches are often accustomed to humans and are usually unable to escape from the enclosures that they are confined to, which range in size from just a few yards to thousands of acres. Most of these ranches operate on a \u201cno-kill, no-pay\u201d policy, so it is in owners\u2019 best interests to ensure that clients get what they came for. Owners do this by offering guides who are familiar with animals\u2019 locations and habits, permitting the use of dogs, and supplying \u201cfeeding stations\u201d that lure unsuspecting animals to food while hunters lie in wait.<\/p>\n While many states have limited or banned canned hunts, there are no federal laws regulating the practice at this time.(15)<\/p>\n Other Victims<\/strong><\/p>\n Hunting accidents destroy property and injure or kill horses, cows, dogs, cats, hikers, and other hunters. In 2006, then\u2013Vice President Dick Cheney famously shot a friend while hunting quail on a canned hunting preserve.(16) According to the National Shooting Sports Foundation, thousands of injuries are attributed to hunting in the U.S. every year\u2014and that number only includes incidents involving humans.(17)<\/p>\n The bears, cougars, deer, foxes, and other animals who are chased, trapped, and even killed by dogs during (sometimes illegal) hunts aren\u2019t the only ones to suffer from this variant of the \u201csport.\u201d Dogs used for hunting are often kept chained or penned and are denied routine veterinary care such as vaccines and heartworm medication. Some are lost during hunts and never found, whereas others are turned loose at the end of hunting season to fend for themselves and die of starvation or get struck by vehicles.<\/p>\n A Humane Alternative<\/strong><\/p>\n There are more than 20 million deer in the U.S., and because hunting has been an ineffective method to \u201ccontrol\u201d populations (one Pennsylvania hunter \u201cmanages\u201d the population and attracts deer by clearing his 600-acre plot of wooded land and planting corn), some wildlife agencies are considering other management techniques.(18,19) Several studies suggest that sterilization is an effective, long-term solution to overpopulation.(20) A method called \u201ctrap, neuter, and return\u201d (TNR) has been tried on deer in Ithaca, N.Y., and an experimental birth-control vaccine is being used on female deer in Hastings-on-the-Hudson, N.Y.(21,22) One Georgia study of 1,500 white-tailed deer on Cumberland Island concluded that \u201cif females are captured, marked, and counted, sterilization reduces herd size, even at relatively low annual sterilization rates.\u201d(23)<\/p>\n What You Can Do<\/strong><\/p>\n Before you support a \u201cwildlife\u201d or \u201cconservation\u201d group, ask about its position on hunting. Groups such as the National Wildlife Federation, the National Audubon Society, the Sierra Club, the Izaak Walton League, the Wilderness Society, and the World Wildlife Fund are pro\u2013sport-hunting, or at the very least, they do not oppose it.<\/p>\n To combat hunting in your area, post \u201cno hunting\u201d signs on your land, join or form an anti-hunting organization, protest organized hunts, and spread deer repellent or human hair (from barber shops) near hunting areas. Call 1-800-628-7275 to report poachers in national parks to the National Parks and Conservation Association. Educate others about hunting. Encourage your legislators to enact or enforce wildlife-protection laws, and insist that nonhunters be equally represented on the staffs of wildlife agencies.<\/p>\n References:<\/strong><\/p>\n 1) National Research Council, \u201cScience and the Endangered Species Act\u201d (Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press, 1995) 21.<\/p>\n 2) Grant Holloway, \u201cCloning to Revive Extinct Species,\u201d CNN.com, 28 May 2002.<\/p>\n 3) Canadian Museum of Nature, \u201cGreat Auk,\u201d 2008.<\/p>\n 4) U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, \u201c2011 National Survey of Fishing, Hunting, and Wildlife-Associated Recreation\u201d (Washington, D.C.: GPO, 2012) 22.<\/p>\n 5) U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 28.<\/p>\n 6) Illinois Department of Natural Resources, \u201cHow the Program Works,\u201d accessed 25 July 2013.<\/p>\n 7) Stephen S. Ditchkoff et al<\/em>., \u201cWounding Rates of White-Tailed Deer With Traditional Archery Equipment,\u201d Proceedings of the Annual Conference of the Southeastern Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies <\/em>(1998).<\/p>\n 8) D.J. Renny, \u201cMerits and Demerits of Different Methods of Culling British Wild Mammals: A Veterinary Surgeon\u2019s Perspective,\u201d Proceedings of a Symposium on the Welfare of British Wild Mammals <\/em>(London: 2002).<\/p>\n 9) Spencer Vaa, \u201cReducing Wounding Losses,\u201d South Dakota Department of Game, Fish, and Parks, accessed 25 July 2013.<\/p>\n 10) E.L. Bradshaw and P. Bateson, \u201cWelfare Implications of Culling Red Deer (Cervus Elaphus<\/em>),\u201d Animal Welfare<\/em> 9 (2000): 3\u201324.<\/p>\n 11) John Whitfield, \u201cSheep Horns Downsized by Hunters\u2019 Taste for Trophies,\u201d Nature<\/em> 426 (2003): 595.<\/p>\n 12) Morgan Loew, \u201cArizona Organization Protects \u2018Canned\u2019 Hunting,\u201d CBS5 9 Nov. 2012.<\/p>\n 13) CBS News, \u201cCan Hunting Endangered Animals Save the Species?\u201d 60 Minutes<\/em> 29 Jan. 2012.<\/p>\n 14) Robert M. Poole, \u201cHunters: For Love of the Land,\u201d National Geographic Magazine<\/em> Nov. 2007.<\/p>\n 15) Morgan Loew, \u201cArizona Organization Protects \u2018Canned\u2019 Hunting,\u201d CBS5 9 Nov. 2012.<\/p>\n 16) Dana Bash, \u201cCheney Accidentally Shoots Fellow Hunter,\u201d CNN.com, 12 Feb. 2006.<\/p>\n 17) National Shooting Sports Foundation, \u201cFirearms-Related Injury Statistics,\u201d Industry Intelligence Reports <\/em>2012.<\/p>\n 18) Division of Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries,\u201dWildlife-2012 Deer Record Information,\u201d South Carolina Department of Natural Resources 2012.<\/p>\n 19) Andrew C. Revkin, \u201cStates Seek to Restore Deer Balance,\u201d The New York Times<\/em> 29 Dec. 2002.<\/p>\n 20) Jason R. Boulanger et al.<\/em>, \u201cSterilization as an Effective Deer Control Technique: A Review,\u201d Human-Wildlife Interactions<\/em> 6(2012):273\u2013282.<\/p>\n 21) Roger Segelken, \u201cSurgical Sterilization Snips Away at Deer Population,\u201d Cornell News<\/em> 19 Mar. 2003.<\/p>\n 22) Lisa Foderaro, \u201cA Kinder, Gentler Way to Thin the Deer Herd,\u201d The New York Times<\/em> 5 July 2013.<\/p>\n