Ethics of Hunting
Katherine Ackerman
Professor Tamara RabeEnglish 201
24 September 2014
Is Hunting Ethical?
Is hunting ethical? As a hunter myself, growing up in a family of hunters, I never answered the question correctly. When asked the question “is hunting ethical?” I would rattle off information and statistics about wildlife population control and the environmental information gathered by hunters, but I seemed to be missing the point completely. As it was recently pointed out, it was like I was being asked what time it was, and answering the date. I wasn’t incorrect; rather, I was just answering the wrong question. Instead, I needed to look at what the actual question was; is the act of hunting ethical, and if not, what are we doing to prevent the mistreatment of animals?
From a moral standpoint, anti-hunters deem hunting as barbaric. It is a reversion to one of the most primal tasks that humans had to perform. Today, however, anti-hunters believe that the act of hunting is an unnecessary evil that can be tackled much more humanely. This entire argument, however, is based off of everyone persons’ definition of the word “hunting.”
To my family, and myself, the idea of hunting means that food is going to be on the dinner table. It means that we are going to kill an animal, butcher it ourselves, and eventually eat the meat of our harvest. It is an appreciation of the wild animals; the ones placed on this Earth to roam the hills and graze the grass, rather than the ones grown in barns and factories. It means utilizing every part of that animal to our best ability, and wasting nothing. We even go as far as to donate the brain and heart of the deer to the local high school for use of dissection in science laboratories. We appreciate the animal in every way we can. It has given us everything (literally) that it has, and we will respect this animal for a time far longer after it’s depart from Earth.
My family doesn’t tree stand hunt. This is the act of climbing high into a
Professor Tamara RabeEnglish 201
24 September 2014
Is Hunting Ethical?
Is hunting ethical? As a hunter myself, growing up in a family of hunters, I never answered the question correctly. When asked the question “is hunting ethical?” I would rattle off information and statistics about wildlife population control and the environmental information gathered by hunters, but I seemed to be missing the point completely. As it was recently pointed out, it was like I was being asked what time it was, and answering the date. I wasn’t incorrect; rather, I was just answering the wrong question. Instead, I needed to look at what the actual question was; is the act of hunting ethical, and if not, what are we doing to prevent the mistreatment of animals?
From a moral standpoint, anti-hunters deem hunting as barbaric. It is a reversion to one of the most primal tasks that humans had to perform. Today, however, anti-hunters believe that the act of hunting is an unnecessary evil that can be tackled much more humanely. This entire argument, however, is based off of everyone persons’ definition of the word “hunting.”
To my family, and myself, the idea of hunting means that food is going to be on the dinner table. It means that we are going to kill an animal, butcher it ourselves, and eventually eat the meat of our harvest. It is an appreciation of the wild animals; the ones placed on this Earth to roam the hills and graze the grass, rather than the ones grown in barns and factories. It means utilizing every part of that animal to our best ability, and wasting nothing. We even go as far as to donate the brain and heart of the deer to the local high school for use of dissection in science laboratories. We appreciate the animal in every way we can. It has given us everything (literally) that it has, and we will respect this animal for a time far longer after it’s depart from Earth.
My family doesn’t tree stand hunt. This is the act of climbing high into a