How are we still killing for fun?
By Crickets
Can someone explain to me how the act of stalking and murdering woodland creatures for the sheer joy and excitement of mounting their carcass on a wall, or splaying it across the floor, is still acceptable? What frightens me is the utter lack of empathy and compassion required to lower a gun at a living being, one absolutely as capable of feeling pain and fear, and with the equal desire to live, as any man, woman or child, and pull the trigger.
Not only pull the trigger, but get a rush of adrenaline.. of JOY… at the sense of power that comes with taking a life. It should be a sense of horror and shame, which is what most people – really, the most of us who swerve to avoid chipmunks on the road because the guilt would… – anyway, what most people would feel, and should feel. Hunters have to teach their children NOT to cry at the sight of dying animals; a constant mantra of “toughen up” and “it’s natural” when what is natural is their initial horror, disgust and sadness at seeing a creature perish – not the subsequent smothering of their empathy.
What brings about this rant is the annual Big Game Trophy awards and dinner coming up in Trail and, more importantly, the LONG list of businesses who financially support this endeavour. To celebrate the collection of corpses in the spirit of sport is abhorrent and I cannot fathom why non-hunting related local business would proudly donate to this event, when there are so many other worthy, altruistic, beneficial groups and causes in the area that desperately need the support.
The entire list of supporters is on page 21 of March 25th’s Pennywise, but here are some of the prominent ones that I encourage people to write to/speak to about their choice of sponsorship if they feel as I do:
AM Ford / Best Western in Trail / Castlegar Golf / Champion Lakes Golf / Columbia Power / Fas Gas / Ferraro Foods / Cornerstone Cafe / Gericks / Integra Tire / Maglio’s / Red Stone / Summit Subaru / Tireland
