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From: js2j@mhuxt.UUCP (sonntag)
Newsgroups: net.misc
Subject: Re: killing wild animals
Message-ID: <1015@mhuxt.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 18-Jul-85 11:37:23 EDT
Article-I.D.: mhuxt.1015
Posted: Thu Jul 18 11:37:23 1985
Date-Received: Sat, 20-Jul-85 06:39:33 EDT
References: <2019@ut-ngp.UTEXAS>
Distribution: na
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories, Murray Hill
Lines: 45

> I don't approve of killing animals anytime; however, for me hunting
> is a much less disgusting act because at least those wild animals
> have had a taste of really living, of being free (for a while anyway).
> 
> Most cows, sheep, and chickens which are raised for human consumption
> spend their entire lives cooped up in absolutely awful, inhumane
> conditions.  I saw a chicken "ranch" when I was a kid, and I didn't
> feel good about eating chickens from then on (I became a vegetarian
> a couple of years ago).  These chickens are kept in wire cages,
> constantly standing, for their entire lives, fed practially nothing
> but growth hormones and drugs which encourage them to eat more.
> Cattle are treated similarly.  And I don't care how stupid these
> animals are!  Nothing deserves this type of treatment.

    I don't know how chickens are treated, but my parents raise beef cattle
ont their farm, and I *do* know that you're wrong about the way cattle are
treated.  ~15 of them, plus a few calves spend their lives hanging out in
a ~25 acre pasture, stuffing their faces with grass, or standing in the
shade chewing their cuds.  They have shelter from the cold, are fed well
during the winter, and are treated with all the respect you would expect
a poor farmer to give a ~$800 investment.
> 
> # Your state wildlife service (what ever their name) does maintain the
> # deer population above the *natural* environment's carring capacity
> # because of the assumption that hunters will reduce the population.
> # I call this 'raised for that purpose'.  The only problem is Darwin
> # gets all messed up!
> 
> Like I said before, at least these wild animals have some freedom.
> The sad thing about hunting, though, is that people who hunt use
> the above (reducing population) as an excuse to hunt.  It seems to
> me that re-introducing the natural predators (whom man has hunted
> away) would solve that problem a lot easier.

     Now there's an intelligent idea.  Outlaw hunting, and then when the
deer start overrunning, say, New Jersey, you just import several thousand
wolves and cougars and grizzley bears to solve the problem.  Of course,
we'll have to let the people who suddenly find themselves missing cattle,
pets, children, etc, that it was all *your* idea.  
-- 
Jeff Sonntag
ihnp4!mhuxt!js2j
   "Well I've been burned before, and I know the score,
    so you won't hear me complain.
    Are you willing to risk it all, or is your love in vain?"-Dylan