Comments on: The irrationality of hunters and “mental violence” http://www.animalrightsblog.com/2008/05/16/the-irrationality-of-hunters-and-mental-violence/ "The Leading Blog for Animal Rights" Sat, 06 Sep 2008 03:00:19 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.2.1 By: Chris http://www.animalrightsblog.com/2008/05/16/the-irrationality-of-hunters-and-mental-violence/#comment-569 Chris Tue, 10 Jun 2008 19:41:08 +0000 http://www.animalrightsblog.com/2008/05/16/the-irrationality-of-hunters-and-mental-violence/#comment-569 Is the hawk lacking in compassion when it holds the small bird in its talons, waiting for it to stop squirming before it starts to feed? I imagine that Mr Cardona's gun kills the bird much more quickly than a non-human predator, or disease, or cold, or some other "natural" way for the bird to die. While compassion is an important human attribute, we should realize that it is not an attribute that is shared by everything within the animal kingdom. Mr Cardona, I am sure, ate the bird. The hawk ate the bird. What is the difference? The bird lives knowing that it has predators, and it does what it can to survive. There is nothing irrational about hunting, although there are some irrational people with irrational ideas that hunt. Hunting is natural. Killing for food is natural. End of story. Is the hawk lacking in compassion when it holds the small bird in its talons, waiting for it to stop squirming before it starts to feed? I imagine that Mr Cardona’s gun kills the bird much more quickly than a non-human predator, or disease, or cold, or some other “natural” way for the bird to die.

While compassion is an important human attribute, we should realize that it is not an attribute that is shared by everything within the animal kingdom. Mr Cardona, I am sure, ate the bird. The hawk ate the bird. What is the difference? The bird lives knowing that it has predators, and it does what it can to survive. There is nothing irrational about hunting, although there are some irrational people with irrational ideas that hunt. Hunting is natural. Killing for food is natural. End of story.

]]>