I consider all kinds of life forms sacred and I’ll bet that most of you out there do too. I don’t hunt and I despise all of those weekend hunters running around out in the woods with high-powered weapons or people that spend massive amounts of money to look athletic in their camouflaged gear, with exotic hunting rifles that are more effective at boosting their egos than boosting their kill ratios.
This doesn’t mean that I am against subsistence hunting, where putting food on the table saves money and feeds a family. I have nothing against that at all, and have several friends who treat hunting as a needed and necessary way of life. But hunting for the sake of killing is a serious lack of respect for wildlife, essentially playing with the power of life or death, to revel in false omnipotence, to swagger and brag about killing a defenseless animal like it was some sort of challenge, when the reality was that the animal had no chance at all.
There are many human activities where we use animals in the name of sport, and none of them are very sporting to the animals that we use. And I say “we” collectively as a human race, not as individuals.
Did you ever hear about the “Running of the Bulls” in Pamplona, Spain? Farm raised Spanish fighting bulls are let loose on the streets of Pamplona, and are guided (read that as forced) to run to the nearest bull fighting arena. The event itself allows people to run with these bulls with sometimes disastrous results, as angry bulls often stomp and gore spectators running with them. At least in that way they get some level of revenge, since the arena to where they are being herded to is their execution chamber.
Bull fighting as a whole is pretty horrendous. Matadors slowly bleed a bull into exhaustion by inserting picks into their flesh until the bull is so dehydrated and listless that the matador is able to thrust a sword through its neck, and if the bull is lucky, the sword will penetrate its heart and kill it instantly. Unfortunately, matadors frequently miss the mark and the bull lingers on in agony until handlers come and slit its throat.
In Pakistan they have a sport called “baiting” where some unfortunate bear will be dragged into a ring and be set upon by dogs. Of course the bear's teeth will be filed down and the claws will be dulled to make sure the dogs are not more injured than the bear. It’s a betting game to see how long the bear will last, and usually after a few turns with the dogs, the bear is so torn up that it needs to be put out of its misery.
Dog fighting in the US is pretty popular, even though it is outlawed. But that didn’t stop a high profile NFL quarterback from getting involved in this “hobby”. These are the famed "Pit Bull" fights where a dog is trained for one purpose and one purpose only: to kill another dog. Those that survive a mauling are usually injured beyond help anyway, and are disposed of by drowning, electrocution and other barbaric means that amuse the owners. Even the famous NFL quarterback loved electrocuting his mangled dogs. And this is all in the name of sport.
To me, being green is as much about respect for the environment as it is about every living creature that inhabits this very same environment. We all live on this planet, and we all want space to live without fear from anyone or anything. Whether animals are wild or domesticated, it has somehow become our responsibility as humans to watch over all of them, and thankfully there are organizations like PETA, Greenpeace, The Sea Shepard’s and The National Wildlife Federation, to name a few. They remain on constant vigilance to right the wrongs against all living creatures and act as our conscience, Because Action speaks louder than words ever will in this case.
Source: BecauseAction.com
