I believe the deer birth-control program at
Point Reyes and other similar public areas is a good approach (HCN,
5/28/07). As someone who has lived with deer my whole life in both
rural and suburban settings, I believe there are multiple major
problems with allowing hunting in popular public lands, parks, and
refuges. First, publicly owned lands are, by definition, public,
and the presence of hunting, even directed sharpshooter hunting, is
very intimidating to the majority of the public who want to be able
to hike, camp and view wildlife year-round without the fear that
the animal they are thrilled to see one moment will die at human
hands the next. Hunting also changes the dynamic of wildlife
interaction: non-hunting human visitors to the park have to fear
that their very presence viewing or photographing any time of the
year will endanger an animal by making it complacent to humans and
therefore more at risk of suffering from a human weapon. And
“suffering” is the right word; in spite of the
wholesome sound of words like “harvesting,” many
animals do not die instantly from bullets or, worse, arrows and
traps, but suffer inexcusably.
Jennifer
Wiseman
Reistertown, Maryland
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Contraceptives not bullets.
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