Boom! That shot just might have fed a family for the night. In today’s society, many people come from different cultural backgrounds and are raised and taught to have a certain moral view, one of those views being whether it is okay to hunt and kill animals. Now, this is a well argued topic because, whether or not you believe in hunting or not, it is a much needed and practical concept to engage in if you understand why certain people hunt in certain ways. Hunting is a very popular hobby for people to experience the beauty of nature and get their mind off the reality of their lives and the world. Hunting animals is moral because, there are many different positive outcomes in doing so.
Before presenting what hunting does to benefit lives of animals and humans, I am going to touch on the different types of hunting, what they are, and how the animal is used. Environmental philosopher Gary Varner says there are three types of hunting. The first one is called therapeutic hunting, which is hunting and killing wild animals to preserve another species or possibly, an entire ecosystem. Between the years 1997 to 2006 Project Isabella was born. Project Isabella was when a conservation group decided to hire multiple marksman to hunt and kill wild feral goats on many Galapagos islands to save the endangered species of Galapagos tortoises from extinction.
Moving on to the second type of hunting, subsistence hunting, which is exactly how it sounds. Subsistence hunting is when humans hunt and kill wild animals to use the material and meat for survival. A perfect example is one of which still occurs to this day–Native American tribes have agreements to hunt and kill whales. They have agreements because of the subsistence value that the animal provides for the tribe is tremendous in the fact that the tribe uses the whole whale for resources. The final type of hunting is called sport hunting, which is essentially hunting for the benefit of feeling excitement and/or accomplishment. Don’t misunderstand, this may sound bad, but its not at all. In a sport hunt, not only is it very exciting, it is also very rewarding in being able to get the meat and feed family or others. (Is Hunting Moral? A philosopher unpacks the question).
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One of the most significant types of hunting is trophy hunting, which is a mixture if all three hunting types. Trophy hunting has grown to be such a big business in today’s society because of the demands of the hunters and the benefits that come from the hunts. (National Geographic Society). An ongoing theory that has been proven logically to help elephants and other animals is the theory, will paying to hunt animals in return benefit their species as well as humans, too? The answer that the National Geographic website declares is that it indeed does benefit humans and animals.
The International Union of Conservation of Nature agrees with the idea that, “Well-managed trophy hunting can provide both revenue and incentives for people to conserve and restore wild populations, maintain areas of land for conservation, and protect wildlife from poaching.” This is a perfect example of an association that fights to protect and preserve all kinds of wildlife but, also agrees that trophy hunting helps villages with much needed necessities, such as food clothes materials and other resources. More studies show that twenty-three African countries have accepted the idea of people coming to hunt animals such as “…lions, leopards, elephants, warthogs, water buffalo, impala, and rhinos” (Pickrell). So much as 18,500 tourist and $200 million dollars (U.S.) in revenue have benefited these countries.
Relevant to these hunts, land conservation has been a tremendous benefit. 540,000 square miles are used for these hunts and studies show 22% of this land to be protected by national parks; therefore villages are less likely to illegally poach animals with the the intent of getting materials from the animals to sell for resources ( National Geographic). Plus, with the hunts, these villages end up having the resources from the revenue of the hunting to accumulate materials and resources they need to survive. Furthermore, having this growing business of trophy hunting is a safe, reliable and legal way to conserve wildlife populations and revenue for villages. Also, allowing trophy hunting prevents the inhumane torture to these species from poachers.
The problem that some people face with all types of hunting is a reasonable accusation. They believe the killing of wild animals is immoral because the harm it causes to the animal is inhumane. Some people believe taking the life of a living organism is not okay. The Idaho State Journal employs the belief that, “We humans have given a lot of thought to what it means for one human to kill another.” Killing a human is considered to be immoral, but The Journal also states, “Yet for a great many people, killing nonhuman animals does not, in itself, violate any moral principle whatsoever.”
While this is a good point, it does not cover the whole aspect of hunting and they may not grasp the relevance that hunting aids third world countries in ways of survival. Human lives are more important than the lives of any wild animal. Certain people need to accept that human life is more valuable and stop pushing the concern of bibliographical reference of one of the ten commandments “thou shalt not kill.” Now, this applies to humanity, but the Idaho State Journal also believes that humans have been taught to dehumanise other humans. For example, soldiers dehumanise opponents in the case of war, but they also believe that it has become “even easier to dehumanize animals.” My response to this is, of course, we as humans, aren’t perfect and some kill other humans.
Unfortunately, this will continue to happen as long as we are on this planet, but to say that animals are in fact humanized is an over simplistic representation that is not true. Humans are at the top of the totem pole and no one cans say that killing animals has made us who we are today. Man, once a primitive species who survived off the land and animals to now, a multicultural world wide intelligent species, capable of killing animals for the benefit of oneself and whole countries. One thing in common for all the years of humanity is that killing wild animals has became a cultural way and even necessity of life.
All this talk about hunting and you might be asking well how does this help animals? Jim Poling does not hesitate to say that, “Recreational hunters have played a pivotal role in nurturing the ecosystem. As a group, we have long been at the forefront of conservation, environmentalism and rehabilitation. Anglers and hunters are by far the largest non-governmental contributors in dollars and volunteer effort to wildlife conservation.” Poling is most certainly correct. In addition to hunters hunting wild animals for the preservation of lands, they also are voluntarily activating their rights costing the government no money. In fact hunters pay to hunt, therefore implying that hunting animals is helping their species not to overpopulate, as well as potentially causing other species danger or extinction. Poling also says that killing animals should make you proud because many people are excited to accept a breast, antlers, jerky and even steaks because “…some people won’t kill animals but they won’t hesitate to eat them. But that’s okay” (Poling).
In conclusion, hunting wild animals is a right and a natural way that humans have been living for thousands of years. It’s been a foundation for many people that have been brought up hunting or learned the primitive ways of survival to sustain their own family life. Why would you want to take away some people’s food source, their lifeline and their way of getting intune with nature and the outside world that many people nowadays take for granted? Hunting is s moral and acceptable way of one’s life, so before you knock it, try it. After all, you may end up enjoying it. Plus, killing and eating animals takes away the processed meat you may consume today.
Bibliography
- Hussain, Shafqat. ‘Sports-Hunting, Fairness and Colonial Identity: Collaboration and Subversion in the Northwestern Frontier Region of the British Indian Empire.’ Conservation and Society, vol. 8, no. 2, 2010, pp. 112-126. ProQuest,search.proquest.com/doc view /762054404?accountid=5405, doi:10.4103/0972-4923.68911. Accessed 12 Nov. 2018.
- ‘Animal Rights: Do Animals Have Rights Similar to Those of Humans?’ Issues & Controversies, Infobase Learning, 26 Feb. 2016,icof.infobaselearning .com recordurl.aspx?ID=2520. Accessed 12 Nov. 2018.
- ‘Hunting and Morality.’ Idaho State Journal, 16 Aug 2015. elibrary, explore. ProQuest.com/document/1704244116?accountid=5405. Accessed 12 Nov. 2018.
- Joshua Duclos, ‘Is Hunting Moral? A Philosopher Unpacks the Question.’ University Wire, 04 Jan 2017. elibrary, explore.proquest.com /document/1855691256? accountid=5405. Accessed 12 Nov. 2018.
- ‘New Poll: Vast Majority of Americans Oppose Elephant, Lion Trophy..’ Targeted News Service, 2017. SIRS Issues Researcher,sks.sirs.com. Accessed 14 Nov. 2018.
- Poling, Jim. ‘Hunting is a Key Wildlife Management Tool.’ The Spectator, 30 Aug 2000, pp. E05. elibrary,explore.proquest.com/document/270029969?accountid=5405. Accessed 14 Nov. 2018.
- “Is Trophy Hunting Helping Save African Elephants?” National Geographic, National Geographic Society, 23 Jan. 2018, news.nationalgeographic.com/2015/11/151715 -conservation-trophy-hunting-elephants-tusks-poaching-zimbabwe-namibia/. Accessed 12 Nov. 2018.
