What Is Sporting? –

Wildlife animals are killed for sport. These include deer, squirrels, elk, bears, and others. Let's take a closer look at this: 1) being shot hurts (I know because I was shot and it really hurt, 2) hunters shoot the biggest and best-looking animals which weakens the herd and gene pool of that species, 3) in a real sport, both participants are willing and they are sort of even in their skills ... but hunters have high-tech equipment and many advantages over animals ... and animals are not willing participants, 4) those species whose numbers are said to be increasing too much are doing so because people have unbalanced the environment by killing off the animal’s natural predators ... so a control solution would be to restore nature’s balance and not tamper with or destroy habitat, 5) there is something ethically wrong about inflicting needless bloodshed and suffering. I have a booklet called "Think Like The Animal", written by Norm Phelps, a hunter who had a change of heart and perspective. I'm thinking now of a poignant quote -- "The squirrel that you kill in jest, dies in earnest"—Henry David Thoreau.

How precious it is to see wildlife animals, in wild places ... living. Let's save what there is left of the natural world. And there are a lot of good things to be said about compassion, starting with these two: It puts us in sync with other people and the rest of earth's creatures. It's definitely a quality that makes a person more attractive and magnetic.