Love the triangle quote
To suggest that animals have no emotions whatever would be the height of vanity.Still,we can't actually know what it may or may not be "thinking" Many animals exhibit similar behavior from a change in their usual environment.How much you could attribute to either is impossible to say.
Loons for instance,were always thought to mate for life.Recent studies have disproved this as many do stray then return in subsequent years.Possibly because this is instinctive behavior that results in more genetic diversity and therefore a stronger population-or maybe just for fun.
Many urban eco-weenie pet owners look down on hunters as drunken gun-toting hillbillies shooting everything in sight.There are idiots everywhere and naturally this happens as well(I'm looking south here
) but by and large,hunters and outdoorspeople have a better understanding and concern for wildlife and their ecosystems than most of the PETA supporters.
Case 1-As for me,I do what I can-little though it is.I build and hang birdhouses,feeders,owl houses,bat houses(I don't tell the wife as she hates bats and has always wondered why we seem to have so many around)I have worked on trout streams I've never fished.
Any trees I cut on my land I pile the brush into piles to help the rabbits-and bobcats,foxes,owls etc.I've planted hundreds of trees over the years and the ones I cut I'm careful not do destroy younger ones in the process and plant/thin where necessary.
Years ago,we had a couple of inches of snow that turned to ice then froze-then had two more storms that deposited about 2.5 feet on that.Deer in the area couldn't get to their food and yarded up as it was almost impossible for them to get around.Naturally,the coyotes (who could travel on top)were chasing them around until some died of exhaustion.Everyone in the area,tree huggers included,were aware of it but didn't bother to put themselves out to help.Late one night,two hunters,my father and myself,strapped on snowshoes and hauled toboggans of feed up to the yarding area.I realize nature is harsh and even coyotes have to eat but to see so much of the local deer population harassed to death and not eaten sort of gets to you.
Case 2-Down in the states(Colorado maybe?) trapping was outlawed a number of years ago due to PETA.WWF etc pressure and the resulting public outcry.After a few years,beaver populations exploded and the resulting damage to peoples property,roads etc caused another outcry-for the gov't to do something to get rid of the beavers.What they did was to hire trappers and pay a taxpayer funded bounty to reduce their numbers.The trappers used to do it for free before trapping was outlawed.
Case 3- Many of these "animal rights people" are also electric car,bio fuel advocates and strict vegetarians.
Currently,deforestation is happening at an alarming rate everywhere in the world to provide biomass for fuel and fields to grow produce as many crops have been switched to bio fuel producers,causing a shortage in less profitable food growing operations.
Riding around in their hybrid vehicles they feel pretty self righteous though likely unaware the majority of their electricity(Can and US anyway) comes from the burning of exceptionally dirt coal.
Cripes,I could keep going for hours here but mercifully,I'll draw this one to a close.
I realize I'm lumping people who think their pet is human in to the category as the likes of PETA supporters but of the many I know,all fall in to both categories.
It disgusts me how many of these people rant about hunters and people killing and eating animals and yet,when as the in the beaver case,something starts to affect them,all their holier than though beliefs go right out the window.
To look down their noses at someone like me,who at least tries to do a little bit and respect the environment and animals-always P's me off.Like it or not,everyone on this planet is a consumer and is responsible for wildlife habitat and wildlife destruction.If you live in a house,apartment or whatever,you are responsible for the permanent destruction of habitat that building required-as well as the materials involved and pollution generated from manufacturing and shipping of it.
Oh yeah,FWIW,my daughter has long been taught that though we are the top of the chain,we need to take care of the trees and animals-we need them to survive,but they don't need us.
More to come later-if you're up for it