Whales and Bears
Posted by Micah (MCAH) on Thu 19 Jul 2001 - 09:39
A couple of only mildly depressing articles about animals (it seems very difficult to find cheerful ones; I guess those don't make the news unless they're odd, like the falling cow). Climate change threatening the food supply for blue whales is the first. The second involves Canada lifting the moratorium on hunting grizzly bears. I'm trying to figure out why people would want to hunt bears. Kill them if they're a menace, eat them for food... but just spontaneously hunt them? What good is that?
Comments
Pardon the obscenity..
But (our favirote ranting gryphon "2", said..) it's penis envy. They have bigger dicks, therefore man likes to kill them. Compensation on a lethal scale. =-D
"Curiously enough, the dolphins had long known of the impending destruction of the planet Earth and had made many attempts to alert mankind to the danger; but most of their communications were misinterpreted as amusing attempts to punch footballs..."
First of all, it isn't Canada that is lifting the moratorium, it is the province of British Columbia.
The Grizzly population of BC is estimated in the tens of thousands, and for the vast majority of BC residents, who live in small rural towns scattered across the vast wilderness of the great white north, casual encounters with grizzly bears is a very real possibility. While I am well aware of the fact that moose wandering into such towns are far more likely to get spooked and attact a person than bears are, it is the bears that are invoke the most fear, particularly grizzly bears.
The other side to it is economic. For a large number of BC residents, taking foreign hunters out on hunts during the two-week hunting season nets them about half their annual income. This does get us back to the question of why someone is willing to travel to BC from somewhere else, then pay an Outfitter $12,000 for a one-week hunting trip, but the outfitter's motive is purely economic.
--Gene
Some hunters will go to great lengths to nail an animal that they feel has a lot of prestige. I guess it's like why people sky dive, bungee jump, drive like jerks, and so on. It's an adrenaline thing... and often a testosterone thing as well.
They often seem to have a lot of respect for the animal, but I suppose that's good sportsmanship.
No, I don't condone hunting, but I can understand how it may be necessary in circumstances of overpopulation and whatnot. Humans tend to hunt each other every so often as well. Culling the herd, maybe?
S t r i p e y M a n e y : A Liger's Anthropomorphic Animal Art Gallery
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