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P.S. It seems that money is not the only incentive in these competitions. From the article I cited above:
"The hunter that brought in the 'most tails'—high-powered rifles usually blast the little rodents to smithereens, leaving only the tails—had their choice of a shotgun or a pair of semi-automatic rifles."
This not encourages killing animals for financial gain and/or pleasure, it also feeds Americans with semi-automatic weapons. I do not need to spell out what danger handing out semi-automatic weapons poses....
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There are some animal killing contests in Canada. We don't have the extreme number of contests that the USA has, but we also have a much smaller population.
I couldn't find any mention of contests anywhere else in the world. Other countries have other cruelties, like bull fighting or the birds that are released for shooting in England. Each of these things is unpleasant in its own way, but the killing contests are particularly nasty. That article you posted is brutal. I did not know about the ray killing contest. They are deliberately killing pregnant rays. They target them during breeding season. I can't imagine even knowing someone who would take part in something like that. They must have a very twisted mind.
Giving a gun as a prize seems like a very dangerous idea. Giving a semi automatic weapon should be stopped as a public safety issue. Years ago there was a bank that was giving out guns if you opened a new account. I saw it in a documentary about school shootings twenty years ago. Things are so much worse now.
Many of the species targeted in these contests are endangered. They are also species that are beneficial to the environment. So the contests encourage some truly sick behavior and they put the environment at risk of collapse.
Ecosystems without predators do poorly.
Catherine
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07-12-2019, 07:41 AM
(This post was last modified: 07-12-2019, 07:44 AM by Tobi.)
Terrible.
I signed the petition. Giving out semi-automatic weapons as prizes??
Mass kiling of wildlife for sport isn't a new idea. But it would be good to put a stop to it.
Only yesterday, someone was out in "my" orchard shooting at Crows for at least an hour. I went out there and shouted at them and told them they were despicable cowards, too cowardly to show their faces to me.
Hundreds of Crows were in the sky heading east...one group after another.
Koori and his fledgling were OK though, and still around today though they lay low for a while.
Here one excuse is called "pest control". Though mostly Crows walk up and down fields digging up worms, insects etc. That's all I ever see my two Crows doing.
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The only pest I can see is the people doing the shooting. They endanger wildlife and they endanger humans in the area.
When they do kill animals they kill things that are essential to a healthy ecosystem.
I am so glad Koori and Koori baby are alright. I fear for them when hunters are around.
"Pest control" is bad enough, but giving out prizes to the person who killed the most is really scary. It encourages and rewards the person with the worst behavior. None of the animals they target are harmful and they all are beneficial.
I really wonder what kind of person would want to enter a contest like that. It just seems like such strange unhealthy behavior.
Catherine
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Welcome to the forum. This is a serious issue and we all feel strongly that such contests must be banned.
Catherine