Hunting section offensive.

jetski

I find this part of boards.ie very offensive. people going around killing intelligent animals, even taking pictures. I enjoy wildlife and its disgraceful the way some people think this ok. I dont accept the rodent argument.

The hunting section of the boards.ie website should be closed down its not accepable that its activley contributing to blood sports.

Zaph

Every forum on the site probably offends someone, somewhere, so should we close down every forum we've ever received a complaint about? Personally I've no interest in hunting, or religion, or professional wrestling, but that doesn't mean that I feel the need to impose my views on those who do and demand that their forums be closed down. What it all boils down to is that if you don't like a particular forum, then nobody's forcing you to read it.

Sparks

Those people you're complaining about put more money, time and effort into actual conservation efforts than any other state body or NGO. That's not hyperbole, that's actual, documented, studied and acknowledged-by-the-government fact.

Obviously, the reality of hunting is distasteful to you, but life is not as simple as a Disney film. For example, there's this thread which shows footage of a sika fawn which is starving to death in the recent cold snap. It's pitiful to watch. It's more complex when you realise that the reason it's starving is that there hasn't been enough hunting of deer in recent years and the herd, having no natural predators, has exceeded the capacity of the land to support. So what you're seeing is how nature naturally does things, and now you have to ask, is it less cruel to let a young animal starve to death or to humanely (and pretty much instantly) kill mature animals (and then eat them, don't forget, this isn't wasteful) so that the overall herd can survive and the young don't starve this way?