The Killing of Animals in its many aspects

[godwulf]

A local news story has stirred up thoughts upon which I normally try not to dwell.

Four teenaged boys lured some ducks and geese into the middle of a roadway with food, and then ran them down with their car. The young 'men' were subsequently caught, and face (though of course they won't get it, more's the pity) as much as ten years in prison.

A caller to a Talk Radio program focused on this incident brought up hunters, who lure these same birds, during 'hunting season', out with bird-calls, and then blast them to death with shotguns. The host responded by asking, "Can't you see the difference between these two activities?" My first thought was, Yes, I can, but I can't imagine that the ducks and geese do.

If you encountered a 9-year-old boy in your neighborhood, shooting stray animals with a beebee gun, what would your reaction be? That maybe the kid was disturbed in some way, and that, at the very least, his parents should be talked with - maybe even the authorities involved? Why does our society treat adults, who go out and attempt to kill wild animals - especially on public land, which, at least in theory is, along with the animals themselves, supposed to belong to all of us - with such kid gloves...even license them to do it?

I'm sure that I'm going to make a few enemies when I say this, but I'll do it anyway: I believe that people who derive enjoyment from killing animals are mentally ill.

No, I'm not a vegetarian, but I'm sure that if I had to slaughter the animals I eat, then I would be. If I were to even see, first-hand, on a regular basis, how chickens and cows, etc., are killed, I'd probably not be able to eat the result.

Yes, I shut my eyes and don't think about it, and maybe that makes me, on some level, a hypocrite; what I'm saying is that I think there's something wrong or 'missing' in a person if they can watch the suffering, the pain, the fear, the death itself, and think of it all as some innocent, fun sport.