"Hunting affects animals that have lived a full life according to their own needs, perhaps for decades; when death arrives, it is sometimes painless, sometimes agonising — just as in nature..."

Actually, a lot of hunters (at least in the US) are involved in conservation in one way or another, or at least donate to conservation programs. After all, if the animal population is gone then what’s there to hunt?

Also, some areas actually need hunters to prevent overpopulation. In my state coyotes and hogs are pretty overpopulated, so hunters go after them without limits. Hogs and coyotes have very few, if any natural predators so hunting them is really the only way to solve that issue. Hogs and coyotes are also very territorial and destructive, so letting them stay overpopulated is dangerous to other wildlife, as well as to any humans who happen to be nearby.

Obviously, if a species is endangered you shouldn’t hunt it, and those who do it anyway (illegally) are idiots. But deer populations are fine, hogs and coyotes are overpopulated, and even the big game “safari” hunting you see is done on private land with carefully managed herds. Poachers are a problem, but hunters are not.

/r/quotes Thread Parent