Welcome to Gaia! ::

(This is a work in progress please excuse my briefness for now)
I am adressing:
Slaughter
Hunting
(more later)

Article 1: My own personal expericance
When I was little we didn't have money to feed ourselves. Do NOT say 'i'm sorry to hear that'...

But, after flipping through some of the threads here I got tired of the ill-excused thread of "Hunting is Evil" or "Meat is Murder"...

I for one am so freakin tired of all the crap circulating around about what is evil and what is murder. Although we as people have morals to not eat our 'companions' we apparently do not take the time to go about and acctually obtain the valuble information backing each side of the argument.

I have hunted, to get food to feed the family... I have worked on a farm, raised animals myself and ate them.

Am I cruel? A horrible person? Or am I surviving?

(I'm not picking on those topics in particular. *sigh* they just caught my eye)

I feel like out of this whole guild I could be the only honest person to say that I raise animals to eat them, I hunt to keep the deer population low (because when it gets too high it starts to make the deer starve from over-eating and when they over -eat it brings upon the downfall of the rest of the forest... >>).

It is my own personal beliefe that people who jump onto PETA's bandwagon without properly looking into the HUMANE slaughter methods that are being used are ignorant and stubborn, those who refuse to look to reason.

Actually, hunting can be extremely beneficial to the environment. Many native animals are at risk due to introduced species such as foxes, rabbits, feral cats, toads and many others. They out-compete them and eat them.
Removing foxes and other pest species takes a lot of pressure off the native species.

http://www.nationalparks.nsw.gov.au/npws.nsf/Content/Predation+by+the+European+red+fox+key+threatening+process+declaration
http://threatenedspecies.environment.nsw.gov.au/tsprofile/home_threats.aspx

That's Australia, obviously. It's also beneficial in other countries. I've talked with one coyote trapper from the states who, when he started his line out, was consistently trapping mange-riddled coyotes. He managed to sufficiently thin the population and last season only 10% of the yotes he caught had mange- a far cry from the 70% of his first season. Managed population= healthier species.
Mange is a very good indication as to the health of a local population

I wouldn't hunt if it was bad for the environment! Just as I don't set out to kill vulnerable species!

Silvercs, ye aren't the only one. I hunt, fish, trap, know where my meat comes from.

I thought the proposed cull [I believe it was 60-70%?] was too steep for an animal about to come off the list, since is would essentially take their numbers back down to a 'vulnerable' status. Very risky as if a disease such as rabies or distemper went through them [albeit less likely with thinned numbers, but still possible] they could be endangered again in no time.
So based on what I've read I think it's a bad idea.
Removing specific problem individuals, however, would not be nearly so drastic a measure.

I changed the title to "Vegetarians, Vegans, and Meat Eaters”. Just in case other meat eaters take "Meat is Murder" as an attack or something. Because I want everyone to feel comfortable to discuss there eating habits. I like to hear all sides of it and I am not apart of PETA!!! Anyways I think you took my thread the wrong way, and I hope to hear your discussion there in the future.

Taking credit for saving the forest because you hunt deer? Not saying hunting doesn't help, but I am sure we have more than enough hunters taking care of that ( neutral here anyways)

I didn't take full credit, you shouldn't twist my words. Where do you think the hunters come from deary? People, I ain't a homosapian for nothin...

(Sorry for the double post)

Nah, don't worry about it. I'm honest in saying it's easy to anger me and impossible for me to keep a grudge more then a day. But I do have opinions ^^.

I think you have brought up a good point. Essentially, I can't say I'm entirely against killing any animal, ever. Death is unfortunately a part of nature, and I've seen other animals kill each other in ways much mure inhamane than many human methods used. My theory is, if you're truly using the animal you're killing, for food and such, the slaughtering method is humane (for me, this includes not killing baby animals - refuse to eat veal, lamb, or anything else that hasn't had a chance to at least grow up), and the population of the animals is not at risk from the hunting, then I really have nothing to say against it. I, personally, don't hunt/fish/etc., and I don't know if I'd ever be able to unless I was in a situation of actualy, literaly starvation. I do not understand how people can get excited about hunting or fishing, but that is probably just my opinion.

What you are describing is no different than the other farmers and such I've known who raise animals for their own food or go hunting to feed themselves. Farmers with smaller groups of animals tend to keep them in better conditions than those headed for mass-market, anyway.

As for me, I am not a vegetarian. I am picky about what meats I eat, depending on when and how the animals are killed.

Traps are fine if they are used correctly.