Should Hunting Be Banned | Teen Ink

Should Hunting Be Banned

December 17, 2012
By ShelbyCarlson SILVER, West Melbourne, Florida
ShelbyCarlson SILVER, West Melbourne, Florida
8 articles 0 photos 0 comments

Hunting should be banned because killing innocent animals isn’t a sport, it’s a sick hobby. Far too many people are either injured or killed every year participating in this “sport.” According to the International Hunter Education Association, approximately 1,000 people in the US and Canada are accidentally shot by hunters every year, and just under a hundred of those accidents are fatalities. Most victims are hunters, but non-hunters are also sometimes killed or injured. Although some other forms of recreation cause more fatalities, hunting is one of the few activities that endangers the entire community, and not just the willing participants. Killing animals in this time period is unnecessary because there are those things called supermarkets which provide you with the food you need to survive.


If there are ways to prevent animals from getting killed, don’t you think we should learn them? Hunters have hunted animals for so long that pretty soon, they’re all going to become endangered or extinct. What happened to the dodo bird? Hunters made it become extinct. Sure there are regulations hunters are supposed to follow but who says every hunter does? Too many hunters have abused their privileges.

I have even heard that sometimes when kids are brought up by hunting, they start to eventually get bored with just hunting animals so they go for a more thrilling target, humans.
Hunting also is one of the main causes of deafness.

Hunting has taken on a new meaning through the years. Hunting used to be a means to obtain food. It was a way of life and needed for survival. Most avid hunters now days use hunting as a sport. They have the dead animals displayed on their walls. They use them as trophies, not for food. I feel hunting for sport is cruel.

Wouldn’t shooting and not killing an animal be a slow and painful death too?

In conclusion, hunting is a cruel act that is passed down from many generations. We need to act now to help preserve the innocent animals that are being affected. Thank you.



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This article has 29 comments.


Baroness said...
on Jan. 19 2021 at 2:42 pm
Baroness, Boise, Delaware
0 articles 0 photos 2 comments
There is a reason that the Fish and Game only allows a certain number of Animals to be killed a Year. That reason is to keep a population at bay. Not from extinction, but over population. I'll admit that my fellow commenters have been unfair to you about your article. But they do have a point; you do lack some evidence. For instance, a supermarket gets their meat from a magical place called a Slaughter House. Animals are cooped in a pen all their life, only birthed to be slaughtered. Hunters have a creed of Fair Chase. They give them an equal chance at survival, and conveniently hunting is significantly cheaper than the supermarket and it provides more meat. This way of life is how I survive.
I don't expect to change any of your opinions, I just wanted to get my pound of meat (no pun intended).

Baroness said...
on Jan. 19 2021 at 2:28 pm
Baroness, Boise, Delaware
0 articles 0 photos 2 comments
@ShelbyCarlson, In the state of California, it is illegal to hunt a certain species of Brown Bear. This occurrence forces the local Fish and Game to hunt and kill a couple thousand bears a year to keep the population down. They don't use the carcass, meat, or hide unlike an avid outdoorsman.

NotDazed said...
on Feb. 24 2020 at 10:57 am
NotDazed, Aurora, Illinois
0 articles 0 photos 2 comments
Citations, Evidence*

NotDazed said...
on Feb. 24 2020 at 10:56 am
NotDazed, Aurora, Illinois
0 articles 0 photos 2 comments
Well dang, this person is receiving a lot of hate, for their opinion. Without ciatations and evidence.

beads1980 said...
on Jan. 16 2020 at 10:01 am
beads1980, Kent Bridge, Ontario
0 articles 0 photos 1 comment
not true at all

therealog11 said...
on Sep. 12 2018 at 2:44 pm
therealog11, Cave City, Arkansas
0 articles 0 photos 1 comment
@TheTrueKiller lmao

on Apr. 29 2018 at 10:50 am
You may be a dumb ass you dont even have fucking numbers also we are egucated and or trained to not to shoot pepole

on Dec. 31 2017 at 5:21 am
First off, the grammar in this is poor.
Secondly, there is so many things wrong with this argument.
1. Hunting is not cruel. Hunting is far more moral, swift, and painless than buying your meat from a grocery store because the animals live in the wild and do not have to suffer harsh conditions just to be slaughtered.
2. There is no such thing as trophy hunting. Sure, people show off their animals after they harvest them. However, there are laws in every state that you must retrieve and pack out the meat of an animal you harvest. You cannot be a trophy hunter without being a meat hunter first. And even the deer or any other animal that has big antlers, or "trophies", often times are the older, more mature animals which typically are past their sexual maturity or won't make it through the winter. So in fact, "trophy" hunting is a sound conservational practice.
3. Hunting animals actually regulates and maintains animal population. And in no way does it eliminate or endanger species. Hunting, regulation, and hunter-funded conservation has helped grow the population of bears, wolves, deer, turkeys, mountain lions, ducks, geese, elk, pronghorn and many other game and non-game animals from critically low to numbers now exceeding the numbers of animals that were on the continent when The Europeans first settled.
4. Hunters and hunting are extremely critical to conservation. Without funding from state issued licenses/tags and donations conservation including research, reintroduction, and habitat improvement could not be possible. Also, hunters themselves proposed a 11% tax on guns, ammo, weapons, bows, and arrows in 1937 that goes strictly to funding conservation. Today that tax has contributed 8 billion dollars to conservation. Also, without Avid hunter Theordore Roosevelt creating the national park system, we might not have had these beautiful lands kept sacred. So next time you are out in nature or see some wildlife, thank a hunter.
5. Hunting for food is organic, free-range, lean, healthy, non-gmo, and is wonderful way to get in touch with nature.
6. Hunting connects you with nature allows you to form a bond with it. I'm sure that most hunters know and care more about wildlife, the environment, and conservation than most people that have a removed perspective on it.
7. Where on earth did you hear that hunting leads to murdering people? There is no factual information/evidence to support this ridiculous claim.
8. No one is asking you to hunt. You don't have to support it, however you should because hunting ushers forth the next generation of conservationalists and continues to fund conservation.
9. Hunting is wildlife management tool, hunting helps balance wildlife populations with what the land can support, limits crop damage and curtails disease outbreaks.
10. Hunting also helps control populations helping highway safety, auto insurers, farmers, and ranchers.
11. Thanks to hunting and hunters you can enjoy wildlife and wild places for many years to come. You are welcome.

Don't spread misinformation and lies. Educate yourself on the benefits of hunting/hunters.

on Dec. 10 2017 at 8:23 pm
This is absolutely stupid and not true

on Dec. 7 2017 at 10:21 pm
HUNTINGISGOOD,
0 articles 0 photos 3 comments
this is totaly correct

on Dec. 7 2017 at 10:18 pm
HUNTINGISGOOD,
0 articles 0 photos 3 comments
man im so gald i read this now i know im not the only person who thinks this

on Dec. 7 2017 at 10:07 pm
HUNTINGISGOOD,
0 articles 0 photos 3 comments
every hunter has to pass a 4 month class to be able to get a hunting lisence to hunt legaly and in that class it teaches them and they bring up so many times that you need to know whats beond your target before you shoot go try to at least read about hunting hunting is very good

on May. 16 2017 at 4:53 pm
How ignorant are you?

Ewrig111 said...
on Mar. 17 2017 at 8:42 pm
This is incredibly stupid. You haven't backed up any of your points with evidence or cited sources. 1. There are strict regulations in place to ensure animals are not becoming endangered due to hunting. Animals that are endangered or even at risk of becoming endangered are not allowed to be hunted. Yes, a very very low number of people may disobey this, however this is extremely rare in first world countries as there is no need to poach as it would achieve nothing, you can't sell what you kill and it's pointless risk. Furthermore, poachers are already breaking the law and risking extensive gaol time, so why would they stop just because hunting itself became illegal? They're already hunting illegally. 2. Hunters move on to people? That is honestly the dumbest thing I've ever heard in my life. Where is your evidence? I know many people who hunted as kids and are just fine. Anyone who is willing to kill humans for sport (which you seem to think is a common occurrence) are probably just mentally ill and would do it whether they hunted as a child or not. 3. Hunting is not just a sport, it is also for pest control, or a way to get food cheaply. Controlling the numbers of animals such as feral cats and dogs, deer, rabbits, hares, foxes, etc. Are vitally important to keep the balance of the ecosystem and ensure an introduced species does not begin to dominate the food chain and kill off other species by overtaking food sources or other means. This is the most common way for animals to go extinct, not by hunting. It also protects the livelihood of farmers whose crops could be being killed, meaning they would have no income. Educate yourself before you write. I didn't site any sources because you didn't, but if you want to do some actual research you'll find what I've said to be very true.

hunterjames said...
on Aug. 29 2016 at 11:41 pm
do your research on a topic before you talk to people about it, hunting actually helps the environment and it isnt hunters that extinct animals today it is expansion of humans, taking over habitats, that is something hunters will not stand for because we want to keep the sacred lands there that we hunt.

yayayay! said...
on May. 17 2016 at 7:31 am
Yes, these are great points, sometimes when a hunter misses it's target and a human is passing by, he/she will die and another innocent human being just died. Also some hunters get greedy and will kill many animals.

mollywinsky said...
on Mar. 17 2016 at 7:48 am
I would like to inform a lot of people since I have no idea why people haven't brought these points up before. LEGAL HUNTING HAS A PRICE. There is tons of equipment, hunting licenses, and more that need to be bought to properly and legally hunt. With that being said, hunting does a great thing for the economy. As well as, without hunting deer and a lot of other wildlife we would be severely OVERPOPULATED. Deer like to eat things like acorns, beans, roots in the ground, and worst about it is that that means our farms would be nonexistent. Yup,good luck buying corn, greenbeans, carrots...

on Mar. 2 2016 at 11:34 am
About the supermarket those animals are slaughtered at a slaughter house so its just as bad. We hunt animals an follow regulations and there are game wardens. We have been hunting for thousands of years and very few animals have gone extinct. This is the circle of life or would you rather see a dead deer's guts on the side of the road and watch it suffer.

Kurt said...
on Aug. 1 2015 at 5:05 am
Okay, there are so many flaws in what you said I can't be bothered to go through all of them. First of all, I think it is extremely idiotic to compare animals to humans. We are MUCH more intelligent and we have MUCH more power over them. If both were treated equally everyone would have to be a vegetarian beause there no meat would ever be purchase-able. Secondly, hunting as a sport does not mean killing for fun. It means humanely killing an animal and using all the meat from the carcass. People put heads up on their wall because there is no meat in the head that can be eaten. "There are those things called supermarkets". Yes, we're not that dumb. Supermarkets sell meat, and we get our own meat by means of humane killing. The process of getting meat into a supermarket is basically: 1. Torture animals by not letting them be free 2. Hang animal up and either i) whack it on the head or ii) cut it's throat. Would you rather die by being shot in the head and feel no pain or get your throat cut? Do you use rat baits, rat poison, ant baits, mouse traps, rat traps or fly swatters? If you answered yes to any of these, you can be called "guilty of hunting". And you know what else would make you "guilty of hunting"? Eating meat!

on Apr. 29 2015 at 10:31 am
Yeah, because hundreds of thousands of people don't get killed by vehicles every year. Hundreds of thousands of people don't become overweight or obese by silverware every year. This is just another person who doesn't know the truth behind hunting and fishing.