DEER HUNTING-HOW ETHICAL IS IT?



In the days of the pilgrims and Indians, hunting was a way of life. Each day the males of the families would venture off into the woods in pursuit of their dinner. Without the knowledge or ability to hunt, the pilgrims and Indians would have had very little hope for survival. As time has aged us all and technology has bettered our way of life, hunting has become an extremely controversial issue.

Now, there is one big difference from so long ago-- people do not need to hunt for mere survival. Hunting is now well known as a "sport." Today, there are many deer, as well as many deer hunters and anti-hunting activists. The deer hunters believe that increased hunting will stop the problems that the deer cause. Problems caused by the deer are that they are often found in the way of oncoming automobiles. This results in death for the deer and in some cases serious injury to the driver of the car. Also, the deer hunters believe "if we let the deer herd continue at the rate it's going here, they'd be starvin' to death." Says hunter Mike Heckman. Anti-hunting activists believe that something must be done to keep the striving population of the deer to get extremely out of hand. "It's divisive, it's inhumane, it's ineffective and it is more expensive than people tend to allow for," said Allen Rutberg of the U.S. humane society. (He says this about the deer hunters ideas to increase the hunting of deer.)

Both the hunters and the anti- hunters stand by their points. The hunters want their right to be able to hunt what they want when they want with a valid hunting license. The anti- hunting activists do not want to hurt the deer. There must be a way that both parties can co-exist with each other. Allen Rutberg is trying to find ways that everyone will be happy. Right now, he is working on a new technique to prevent the deer from reproducing too rapidly. "The technique that we're looking at is immuno contraception, which is going to be a dart-delivered vaccine that prevents pregnancies." said Rutberg.

I have shown this issue from both sides, and now I'm going to show it from my point of view. In no way do I enjoy the hunting of the white-tail deer, but I also realize that the deer are overpopulated and this needs to be controlled. Birth control for deer does not seem to be the way to go. Let's all clue in for a minute, would this really work at all? I don't think so. If none of the female deer are able to reproduce, the population that was 1 million at the turn of the century, will decline. I am on the side of the anti-hunting activists, but I just don't agree with all of their ideas. The hunters go and kill animals for the fun of it. They don't need to kill deer for survival of themselves. They would not be able to kill humans for the fun of it. Why are they able to kill animals for fun? Give it some thought!

Source used: CNN interactive http://CNN/earth/9612/23/deer.overpop/index.html, 12/96