Should hunting animals for sport be banned?

[bgwah]

What do you think?

[Gabu]

I'm not sure about banned, but I strongly disapprove of the practice and consider it the pointless killing of innocent animals.  At least have the courtesy to make use of an animal's body if you kill it.

People never fail to sicken me who consider animals to be nothing more than things put here to amuse humans.

[Nym90]

No, because banning it would do a lot more harm than good. However, it should be strongly discouraged. I agree with Gabu here.

Hunting in which you actually eat or otherwise use what you catch, and not just "for sport" (which I assume implies you simply kill the animal and do nothing with it, you are just doing it purely for fun), is perfectly acceptable however.

[MODU]

If "for sport" you mean that the animals are killed and not used (meat consumed, skin used, etc), then I could agree.  However, most hunters I know don't just arbitrarily kill animals and leave them to rot.

[Bdub]

No.  People would continue to hunt animals for sport, regardless if it was legal or not.

[Alcon]

I have some very strongly mixed feelings about this, but I lean yes.  I think it's horrible.

[MasterJedi]

No, people should have the right to hunt animals if they want to. Now, things like Seal Clubbing should be illegal.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Only if the ancient art of trout-tickling is legalised.

[adam]

I love animals, and thus I could never fathom killing one just for the hell of it. However, I believe that hunting is a right that should be respected and protected from the grasp of government intervention. I do agree with Jedi however, animal torture (such as seal clubbing) should be fought with hard fines.

I really do wish people would just do what I do instead...go to the gun range!

[David S]

Some animals like deer no longer have natural enemies. If they aren't hunted their populations swell until they exceed the number which the land can support and then starvation  becomes the leading cause of death. Also in areas that are highly populated by people the deer become a traffic hazard. They cause drivers to run off the road. When a car hits a large tree the car loses and the driver gets seriously injured. The most sensible way to keep the deer in check is by allowing a hunting season. That costs government nothing and in fact government makes money selling hunting liscenses. The animal is not wasted since the hunters eat the meat.

[WalterMitty]

no.  in fact i believe hunting regulations should be loosened.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

Hunting for purposes of making use of the animal or to control a pest should definitely be legal.  Hunting just for the sake of killing is bad, but I see no practical way of controling it without also infringing on the legitimate uses of hunting.

[Colin]

Hunting for purposes of making use of the animal or to control a pest should definitely be legal.  Hunting just for the sake of killing is bad, but I see no practical way of controling it without also infringing on the legitimate uses of hunting.

Plus alot of hunting that you could consider just for sport, like deer hunting here in Pennsylvania, is actually necessary to control the deer population and to keep it from either completely wrecking the ecosystem or interfering with human activities. Hunting has thus become necessary because the big predators that used to kill the dear, coyotes, bears, wolves, etc., are either much to rare nowadays to properly control the population, due to reduction of habitat and human intereference, or have moved out of the area. So it becomes necessary for the government to completely endorse hunting for sport in order to keep these populations in check.

I love animals, and thus I could never fathom killing one just for the hell of it. However, I believe that hunting is a right that should be respected and protected from the grasp of government intervention. I do agree with Jedi however, animal torture (such as seal clubbing) should be fought with hard fines.

I have to agree completely with adam on what I believe.

[David S]

I love animals, and thus I could never fathom killing one just for the hell of it. However, I believe that hunting is a right that should be respected and protected from the grasp of government intervention. I do agree with Jedi however, animal torture (such as seal clubbing) should be fought with hard fines.

I really do wish people would just do what I do instead...go to the gun range!

I don't hunt either and I much prefer shooting paper targets or tin cans, but really how different is it to shoot a deer than it is order a cheeseburger which ultimately results in the slaughtering of a cow? We humans, at least most of us,  are carnivores. We eat meat and that means killing something, either by our own hand or someone else's.

[Akno21]

No, people should have the right to hunt animals if they want to. Now, things like Seal Clubbing should be illegal.

Doesn't getting shot hurt too?

[The Dowager Mod]

No.

[Undisguised Sockpuppet]

hunting anti-gun leftists, the homeless, convicted felons and noncitizens should be legal

[Starbucks Union Thug HokeyPuck]

I don't think its necessary very moral to be doing.  But hey, it's so imbedded into our culture as a whole that I think trying to outlaw it would be stupid and impractical.  We already protect endangered species, I think that's as far as we have to go. 

[Starbucks Union Thug HokeyPuck]

No, people should have the right to hunt animals if they want to. Now, things like Seal Clubbing should be illegal.

good god thats awful : (

poor seals, seals kick ass

[jerusalemcar5]

Theoretically-yes.  Practically-no.

[dazzleman]

I'd say no.

I've never hunted and have no real desire to do so.

Still, hunting serves a purpose in controlling the population of certain animals, particular deer, who have largely lost their natural predator, the wolf, in many sections of the country.

Some people think nature is just beautiful scenery, but predators are also a part of nature, as is the food chain.  It's not something we can change, even if we wanted to and deemed it desirable to change, which I do not.

[Beet]

No, people should have the right to hunt animals if they want to. Now, things like Seal Clubbing should be illegal.

Doesn't getting shot hurt too?

Getting shot hurts but it's not quite as tortuous. Also, we would have to confront the hypocrisy of a society that grows animals to slaughter for culinary taste, yet somehow feels morally obliged not to hunt for entertainment.

I lean no, although I certainly sympathize with those who abhor the practice and I don't know if I'd ever want to hunt myself. I certainly recoil that those who feel somehow proud of the carnage they have caused, and militantly brandish their hobby as if it was some kind of badge of honor.

[angus]

Doesn't getting shot hurt too?

probably it does, but probably not as much as being shaved, declawed, overdosed with cocaine, coated with vaseline, stuck in a freezer for about 60 seconds, then shoved into a one-inch piece of PVC pipe and having a lighter struck behind your ass.  So you scurry down the pipe only to end up dying in the rectum of some attention-starved freak after his cheeks slam shut behind you when the pipe is swiftly pulled from the anus.  What a horrible way to go.

anyway, I voted no.  Not that I've ever hunted.  Or clubbed.  Or even felched, for that matter.  It's just that I don't think that's the appropriate business of government.

"...that government of the gerbils, by the gerbils, for the gerbils, shall not perish from the earth..."
        --Abe Lincoln

Um, somehow I think that's a misquote.  Government exists for one aminal.  Namely, the most highly evolved one.  Those others can make laws once they evolve the ability to write them.

[Josh/Devilman88]

No

[Undisguised Sockpuppet]

Doesn't getting shot hurt too?

probably it does, but probably not as much as being shaved, declawed, overdosed with cocaine, coated with vaseline, stuck in a freezer for about 60 seconds, then shoved into a one-inch piece of PVC pipe and having a lighter struck behind your ass.  So you scurry down the pipe only to end up dying in the rectum of some attention-starved freak after his cheeks slam shut behind you when the pipe is swiftly pulled from the anus.  What a horrible way to go.

anyway, I voted no.  Not that I've ever hunted.  Or clubbed.  Or even felched, for that matter.  It's just that I don't think that's the appropriate business of government.

"...that government of the gerbils, by the gerbils, for the gerbils, shall not perish from the earth..."
        --Abe Lincoln

Um, somehow I think that's a misquote.  Government exists for one aminal.  Namely, the most highly evolved one.  Those others can make laws once they evolve the ability to write them.

LOL. This is a funny post.