CH: I just read this story in the Daily Breeze, although it relates to Australia: http://www.dailybreeze.com/ci_12325819
Basically, some people are killing thousands of kangaroos to "thin" out the population and help the endangered plants that the kangaroos are eating, which other endangered bugs and animals also eat - so they say there isn't enough..........
Reminds me of the deer population issue in some other states and smaller towns...some people make themselves feel better about hunting deer because they say there are too many and people hit them with their cars, etc etc....
I'm just about positive there are probably some deer hunting fans reading this...but I'm allowed my opinion too....I can understand if you're hunting the deer to eat them (although I think venison is ick)...especially if it provides an affordable way for you to feed your family...
But when people kill, just to kill....for a head to hang on their mantle....I find it a little distorted. I don't know how people get past the fact that they just took the life from something else......I get really upset when I put a spider in the toilet to flush it down - and I only did this because it's too far to the door and it's hard enough for me to make it to the toilet - and I don't want it crawling on me and biting me in my sleep....
And this whole population control thing...I get it - it makes sense...but I feel like it's a way of "playing God" in a sense....we're forced to choose between humans killing kangaroos, or letting nature do its thing and kill off the earless dragons by way of kangaroo overpopulation....
What if.....God decided it was time for the earless dragons to fall into our history books...for whatever reason, it's time for them to go on their way...and his way of doing this is by overpopulating the kangaroos to eat all their food...? Survival of the fittest, right? But when humans step in and alter God's plan - who knows what will happen....maybe the kangaroo population would have righted itself after the earless dragons were gone.....perhaps a fire would have (sadly) killed off a huge population of kangaroos so their numbers were right again...or maybe this would happen before they even had a chance to starve the poor earless dragons out.....
who knows....anything could happen, right?
But why do we get to decide who lives, and who dies?
Thoughts?
JH: Hee hee, people think I'm crazy for not being able to bring myself to kill bugs, but seriously, it disturbs me! I also hate it when people say "boy will be boys" when they take a magnifying glass to a trail of ants (I grew up with little brothers).
As for this whole kangaroo business, I can barely make myself wrap my head around it. I see all sides and am unsure as to the best solution. At least shooting the Kangaroos is a little more civilized than the clubbing of seals in Canada :(
Basically, some people are killing thousands of kangaroos to "thin" out the population and help the endangered plants that the kangaroos are eating, which other endangered bugs and animals also eat - so they say there isn't enough..........
Reminds me of the deer population issue in some other states and smaller towns...some people make themselves feel better about hunting deer because they say there are too many and people hit them with their cars, etc etc....
I'm just about positive there are probably some deer hunting fans reading this...but I'm allowed my opinion too....I can understand if you're hunting the deer to eat them (although I think venison is ick)...especially if it provides an affordable way for you to feed your family...
But when people kill, just to kill....for a head to hang on their mantle....I find it a little distorted. I don't know how people get past the fact that they just took the life from something else......I get really upset when I put a spider in the toilet to flush it down - and I only did this because it's too far to the door and it's hard enough for me to make it to the toilet - and I don't want it crawling on me and biting me in my sleep....
And this whole population control thing...I get it - it makes sense...but I feel like it's a way of "playing God" in a sense....we're forced to choose between humans killing kangaroos, or letting nature do its thing and kill off the earless dragons by way of kangaroo overpopulation....
What if.....God decided it was time for the earless dragons to fall into our history books...for whatever reason, it's time for them to go on their way...and his way of doing this is by overpopulating the kangaroos to eat all their food...? Survival of the fittest, right? But when humans step in and alter God's plan - who knows what will happen....maybe the kangaroo population would have righted itself after the earless dragons were gone.....perhaps a fire would have (sadly) killed off a huge population of kangaroos so their numbers were right again...or maybe this would happen before they even had a chance to starve the poor earless dragons out.....
who knows....anything could happen, right?
But why do we get to decide who lives, and who dies?
Thoughts?
JH: Hee hee, people think I'm crazy for not being able to bring myself to kill bugs, but seriously, it disturbs me! I also hate it when people say "boy will be boys" when they take a magnifying glass to a trail of ants (I grew up with little brothers).
As for this whole kangaroo business, I can barely make myself wrap my head around it. I see all sides and am unsure as to the best solution. At least shooting the Kangaroos is a little more civilized than the clubbing of seals in Canada :(
CH: the last comment we received which was from "mander" was very interesting....because humans have overhunted deer's natural predators, the deer population is running rampant as a result.
It's unfortunate that the only way to correct this is to keep the deer population down ourselves...it just seems like a vicious solution - but what else is there I suppose...?
Again, I'm really not a fan of hunting at all...if it's to put food on the table, so be it...but just for the sport of it seems inhumane and obviously has caused our environment harm. :(
And Jen, I've heard of the clubbing of seals - but not in detail....the phrase alone sounds horrible and I just never brought myself to research it further :( :(
