North American Wildlife
How to Sustain Wildlife In America.
Sustaining wildlife is a difficult discussion. First because even the differences in definition of Wildlife are confusing. For definition purposes, Wolf Gardens Wildlife Center defines North American Wildlife as non-domesticated animals originating in the naturally occurring habitats of North America. Domestication of Wildlife is also a questionable definiti ...learn more
GROUP DETAILS
Created: Oct 10, 2007
Updated: Nov 23, 2009
Membership: Open
Semi-Private
Topic: Human Predators and the need for education
Posts (1 - 3 of 3)
Sort by: Ascending | Descending
Login to Post a Reply.
|
|
I'm glad I'm not the only one with an "in-between" philosophy on hunting. I understand its necessity to human life and, more and more, we are probably safer hunting our own food than eating the meats packaged in stores, whose origin and contents are questionable.
On the other hand, it horrifies me to hear stories from sport-hunters, as their words are full of a thirst for blood and destruction. A desire to torture or kill animals has been related to abuse of humans, and it's no wonder this is the case - it doesn't take much to see that relation. I'm interested to hear that there is such a problem when hunting by humans is eliminated, as the ecosystem was able to manage itself prior to the numbers of humans we have today. Do you think that these problems would stabilize over time, if humans removed themselves from the meat food chain? Would the carnivores eventually catch up, to the point where herbivores are no longer suffering in this way? Or have we permanently damaged the system so we always have to hunt to manage it? I would think that the system would eventually stabilize itself as we left the higher end of the food chain alone. My local area is especially bad, in terms of sport-hunting, and I have a feeling there is no way I can combat the culture. Any time I bring up the topic, sport-hunters grow overly defensive and immediately quit listening. It seems that, no matter how gently I try to present the information, it's so ingrained in the culture that I only offend people and cannot get through to them. It would help if I had a way of influencing the children, but I currently don't have that kind of ability. Any ideas? Perhaps I could convince the local schools to allow me to do a presentation on hunting... but, then, I don't have the same influence on these children as their families do, and much of the problem is that dad hunts, as does grandpa, as did great-grandpa. It's become a tradition of slaughter, rather than a necessary practice for survival, yet the line between the two is so blurred that it's hard for a child to locate when it was right and when it became wrong. Thanks again for this information and this group. This is a topic that lies close ot my heart. |
|
|
Hi Ketharin,
First, sorry about being so slow to respond.I am head deep in five different domains and with a team of volunteers of one. LOL I have the same problem where I am at. Sport hunters want all the predators removed because they say they destroy the game, which of course is not the case. If man could learn to predate from the bottom up he could actually help but that is not likely. For me the line is rather simple. Those who hunt for food waste nothing. They do not kill for the fun of killing and they feel remorse for the loss of life even though we (even humans) are part of the natural order of life. If we take only what we need and work to help restore the habitat and environment and bring the healing that must come, then we are in fact a crucial part of nature that is required to heal the damage. On the other hand, if we take more than what we need, waste more than we use and destroy anything is sight we have become a destructive force and the earth will not sustain such actions. Eventually she will rid herself of us. Man will become the source of his own extinction. We hope to develop an education system equipped with details and facts which will be presented by our wildlife biologists and naturalists for schools as well as on site at Wolf Gardens Wildlife Center. Please feel free to join us at both http://wolfgardens.org and at th Activist Portal http://defendthewolves.org/activism/ I too am glad to meet someone else who actually understand that there is indeed a difference in living on what nature provides and taking what we want from nature. I look forward to more of your posts. With Respect, Jim P.S. I will try not to be so slow in the future. |
You do not have access to post to this record
1 to 3 of 3 Posts
The fact is that most people have little enough information or the facts to know which is which.
I am Director/Manager of the First Nations Outreach Project which owns Wolf Gardens Wildlife Center. Currently we house 38 rescued wolves. http://defendthewolves.org
Sport hunting literally is this. The taking of an animal for the recreation of killing. Sport hunters are top predators. By top predators I mean they predate from the top down. Natural Predators predate from the bottom up.
I live in Ashland, Alabama. Here in our County we have seen in the last forty years a drastic change in the deer population. First we see a tremendous increase in the population while we see a frightening change in the buck to doe ratio.
40 years ago you would see a buck with eight to 12 does in a herd. Now if you see a buck with two or three does you are lucky. Often you will see a doe being perused by five or six young bucks.
The balance is upset and it is upset because of top predatory practices. Trophy hunting! Man kills the largest of the animals and leaves the smallest, the weaker if you will to breed. Reducing the gene pool to a less resistant animal and also eliminating the strong to enforce the “natural selection Processes.”
The same is true with the hunting of predators. In removing the predators, we eliminate the natural selection of the weaker of the herd animals.
Many people believe that not hunting at all is the answer. The truth is, this will be as destructive as trophy hunting is. With the absence of natural predators, the elimination of hunting all together would still result in the annihilation of natural herd animals which would cause a tidal wave effect throughout the entire ecosystem.
This is proven in several areas where hunting has been eliminated and areas which also have no natural predators. Certain Military reservations which allow no hunting and no predators have seen the reduction of whitetail deer to mere dwarves of what they should be.
Is there an answer to this problem? Yes there is. The answer is a very simple one. First we restore the natural predators to the areas they have been removed from. Here for example the primary natural predator was the eastern red wolf, now all but extinct with less than 400 now in existence. Then we set a limit on hunting and start hunter education in real earnest. Hunters must learn that killing for food is one thing, killing for fun is simply destructive. In our area as well as most areas of the country the deer population is over crowded with does and young bucks. A healthy two year old buck should be an eight point. Here they are lucky if they are a 2/1 three point. Taking these weaker bucks out of the breeding pool will give the stronger bucks the time to regain control of herds rather than free ranging units, and will increase the breeding competition making the herd stronger.
If we do not learn to live with predators and pay attention to the natural order of our eco system, we will find we have lost it.
Sport hunting brings in a good deal of money, this overpowers the needs of our echosystem. However, the fact is, that nature based tourism would bring in 1000 times the money that sport hunting brings in. Restore the predators and restore the natural selection. Survival of the fittest in the wild is not just a theory. It is necessity.
With respect to all,
Jim Windwalker Director/Manager First Nations Outreach Project
Director/ Manager Wolf Gardens Wildlife Center