Humans are predators, Not just hunters
In the animal world, its eaten or be eaten, the hunters are doing what mother nature would be doing if we hadn’t removed all the natural predators. Now, it is up to us to do the job.
I ran across the above quote while reading a response to an opinion piece on hunting in a newspaper. As you can tell, it is in support of hunting, not against. And it is a sound argument, even one that I have found myself using from time to time. But after reading it, it got me to thinking.
There are a few things about this argument, as stated here, that are a bit off, and seem to be quite often. First, all the natural predators haven’t been removed. What is more accurate is that we have reduced the number of natural predators to the point that they are no longer effective in naturally controlling the population.
The second is that, as is often the case, it fails to recognize the fact that humans are predators. Our eyes are set in the front of our heads, and our ears are on the side, like is the case with any animal classified as a predator. We were built to hunt, so it isn’t up to us to do the job that other predators are no longer able to, but to be the predators we are and begin actively playing the role nature intended us to play.
It may not be a role that people like to recognize that we have, because for some it may mean having to accept that we are not above nature and that we are no more than animals ourselves, no matter how high the degree of reasoning we have. What that reasoning does do is give us the ability to kill smartly, taking into account all the varying factors needed to maintain a sustainable resource of wildlife.
Of course, this doesn’t change the fact that I believe this is a good and fairly accurate argument. It’s just that I started thinking and thought I would share my thoughts. I guess you could call it a semi-rant, and I rant quite a bit.
hunting, hunting sense, predation, predators, wildlife population, population control, deer, hunters
November 29th, 2007 at 3:20 pm
Good post. Keep up the good work!
December 3rd, 2007 at 8:18 am
Even if we could see the restoration of non-human predators to our public lands and achieve a balance that eliminates hunting… should we?
I say no, partly because I agree– we are predators and I think there is something restoring about reminding yourself that you are part of nature and trying to act like it, and that denying us this outlet and communion is a mistake.
And partly because I take the view that game animals are a public resource and we have it in our right to manage them, hunt them, and … well… eat them.
It is difficult to extract humans from nature and remove our influences, short of returning to stone age hunter gatherer lifestyles seeing as how we’ve been domesticating and managing plants and animals for ~10k years.
Michael