Monday, December 3, 2012

Debating with the Danielle's: Hunting: Yay or Nay?

Today I am participating in a new meme from over at "We Have It All".  I love the idea of friendly debates via many different blogs, so I thought I would get involved.  And this topic happens to be one that I have an opinion about, so it worked out well.

I grew up in a pretty anti-gun family.  I was never really sure why, but my parents and older siblings really seemed to dislike guns a lot.  I started dating my current husband while in college and his family was the complete opposite.  They were a gun family.  They belonged to a shooting range.  They had multiple guns and did reloading at their house.  They hunted and spent most weekends at the range.  Truthfully, I was fascinated by the whole thing.  It was like some kind of taboo being broken when I visited there.  But, I was also uncomfortable with the guns.  I tried going shooting with them a few times, but I just didn't enjoy it at all.  But, I was impressed with the technical knowhow that shooting required and the bonding that happened over the barrel of a gun.

Personally, I don't have anything against hunting.  I am a meat eater and I know that hunting is a much less abusive way of eating meat than the mass production that takes place at corporate farms.  And, I obviously eat that meat at times.  So, hunting that results in meat that can be eaten is totally fine with me.  I don't like dead things - so, I don't want to be involved in the process or know what the animal looked like before being processed, but I don't have a problem with people who can do that.  In fact, I appreciate them for allowing me to eat meat without having to deal with that part of the process.

There is a type of hunting that I don't totally understand or respect - that of "big game hunting".  I guess it's just a way of proving one's supremacy, but shooting some beautiful animal (or even not so beautiful, but incredibly impressive, like a rhinoceros) to put its head or skin on one's wall seems ridiculous to me.  I am saddened when I see an animal like a zebra or lion or rhino lying dead next to some guy and his gun.

So, I guess my "yay" or "nay" depends on the type of hunting that is being done.  Going out and shooting some ducks or dove or a deer in order to process the meat for meals seems okay to me (although shooting the bird of peace always seemed a bit too ironic), but doing the same with a rare and beautiful animal like a zebra does not.

I think we would all be better off if we knew exactly where our meat had come from (for those of us who still eat meat) and how it was processed, etc.  And hunting allows an opportunity for that to happen for some.

1 comment:

  1. Hi Sue, thanks so much for linking up this week! I have to agree with you about killing animals like zebra and the others. I don't see the point. Oh and we are going to do a gun topic coming up soon... so be sure to link up again!

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