Mass escape of wild animals, police shoot to kill.

[Coito ergo sum]

It is as much the fault of the authorities for allowing this idiot to keep his private zoo that he obviously had no idea how to look after

That has not been established. Apparently, the guy let them out on purpose, and then killed himself. Obviously something more was going on here than is apparent at first blush.

There is no reason to think the animals were mistreated. Animal sanctuaries in the US are generally run by private, qualified, non-profit organizations. The assumption that they are mistreating animals is wrong, false, and slanderous. I do charity work for a wild animal sanctuary. I know of what I speak.

That, of course, doesn't rule out the possibility that this guy wasn't operating his facility properly. But, that hasn't been established.

[Coito ergo sum]

I've seen a few with some actually balls. Max Bear hunted razorbacks with a bow and arrow once, I was somewhere behind him with a family friend who was in the support team. The guys who hunt wild boar with spears also come to mind. But most of them are wussies.

Jim Bowie and Davy Crockett used to hunt grizzlies with Bowie knives. I know, I read the comics.
They should invite in anyone who wants to be a genuine backwoodsman, and allow them to take out the critters with a sheath knife.
If they want to show off their balls.

Yeah! And, cow, pig and chicken hunters! They shouldn't be allowed to do it by proxy! If you want some dead cow, pig or chicken, you need to go down to an open range, and stalk and kill them with you're bare hands!

[Jason]

There's a difference, I think, in stamp-collecting versus getting a thrill from killing other living creatures for "fun."

I don't collect stamps, but I do hunt and I enjoy it. I also hunt solo in areas heavily populated by Grizzly bears, Black bears, Mountain lions, Wolves - the very large sort, Coyotes, and assorted venomous snakes. All of which will just as happily kill me as the deer I'm after.

[charlou]

There's a difference, I think, in stamp-collecting versus getting a thrill from killing other living creatures for "fun."

I don't collect stamps, but I do hunt and I enjoy it. I also hunt solo in areas heavily populated by Grizzly bears, Black bears, Mountain lions, Wolves - the very large sort, Coyotes, and assorted venomous snakes. All of which will just as happily kill me as the deer I'm after.

Yes, they will come into your habitat and stalk you until they find you, then install a trojan on your system. Be .. fucking .. ware ...

[Jason]

*Shrug* I don't care about your imposed moral qualms and you obviously knew I meant in the field.

[charlou]

*Shrug* I don't care about your imposed moral qualms and you obviously knew I meant in the field.

Oh, I'll impose some moral qualms, alright ...

[Wumbologist]

There's a difference, I think, in stamp-collecting versus getting a thrill from killing other living creatures for "fun."

I don't think so. Humans have a natural predatory instinct, some people might feel it more strongly than others, but there's no point in denying its existence. We are genetically programmed to seek out and kill other animals to sustain ourselves. If someone chooses to embrace that rather than trying to pretend it's not there, I don't see the harm.

On the other hand, we have no natural stamp-collecting instincts. Those people are freaks.

[Gallstones]

In the context of African wildlife, which is what Seth was talking about, big game does not mean 'white-tailed deer', nor it's antelope equivalent. And those are not considered 'trophy animals', either.

Yes they are. A buck or bull with a big rack is highly coveted as a trophy head for the wall.
The whole animal has to be hauled out and the meat packaged to be eaten, but the antler rack is a trophy.

These are all considered game and trophy animals.

An average bull elk weighs 700 pounds (315 kg), stands 5 feet (1.5 m) at the shoulder, and measures more than 8 feet (2.4 m) from nose to rump.

A Bighorn ram horns can weigh up to 30 pounds (14 kg), while the sheep themselves weigh up to 300 pounds (140 kg).

Rocky Mountain Goat buck typically weighs between 100 and 300 lbs (45–136 kg)

On average, an adult moose stands 1.8–2.1 m (6–7 ft) high at the shoulder. Males weigh 380–720 kg (850–1580 pounds) and females weigh 270–360 kg (600–800 pounds). The largest of all is the Alaskan subspecies (A. a. gigas), which can stand over 2.1 m (7 ft) at the shoulder, has a span across the antlers of 1.8 m (6 ft) and averages 634.5 kg (1,396 lbs) in males and 478 kg (1,052 lbs) in females.

The mule deer is the largest of the Odocoileus genus, standing, on the average, 40–42 inches (100–110 cm) at the shoulders and stretching 80 inches (200 cm) or so nose to tail. An adult buck will weigh from 150–300 pounds (68–140 kg) on the hoof, with does averaging 125–175 pounds (57–79 kg). The occasional trophy-sized mule deer buck may weigh in around 500 pounds (230 kg)

[Gallstones]

Deer are game animals. Comparatively "smaller" game than elk or moose but bigger than antelope.
I have only seen or heard the term "game" to describe ungulates.

I am mistaken, birds hunted for food are called game too.

[Gallstones]

I'm sure big game hunting has its benefits, in terms of bringing in money to poor areas of Africa and helping to pay for conservation but I will never understand the mentality of someone who wants to shoot a lion. Why bother? Why not just leave it alone? Or just take a photo of it and go home. You'd almost certainly have to be a little further along the psychopathy spectrum than the average person to want to go big game hunting...

Hunting and an enthusiasm for hunting can not honestly, nor accurately be characterized as a pathology.
It is no more pathological than any other thrill-type activity.

[Wumbologist]

Yes they are. A buck or bull with a big rack is highly coveted as a trophy head for the wall.

Big racks are always highly coveted.

[Gallstones]

Yes they are. A buck or bull with a big rack is highly coveted as a trophy head for the wall.

Big racks are always highly coveted.

I'm more interested in a big codpiece.

[Wumbologist]

Yes they are. A buck or bull with a big rack is highly coveted as a trophy head for the wall.

Big racks are always highly coveted.

I'm more interested in a big codpiece.

?

[Gallstones]

I'm for harvesting wildlife for food.

Unlike yourself, I give a toss about them both.

I'm not criticising, just saying I don't get it.
I don't really give a toss about anything, except my own friends and family, and the extinction of species.
Everything else is just my opinions, not emotions.

So a few zoo animals being killed doesn't bother me, unless they were incredibly rare species, in danger of extinction.
I'm not against harvesting wildlife for food, so long as they are not species in decline, heading for extinction.
I just think it's immoral to do it for fun. I used to love fishing. I don't fish any more, but I would if I needed the food, and the species was not under threat.

I find it odd that you say you give a toss about wild animals, but are ok with killing them for fun.
I don't think eating them makes much difference, unless you actually NEED the food.

Let me try again.
Hunting, as we do it where I live, is a competition between the animal and the hunter--finding it, getting the shot, hauling it back to the truck, butchering it and eating it.

Try to understand, I realize you don't care, but deer breed like rabbits, there are lots of them. If we don't cull them they damage their environment, they damage it for every animal that depends on that environment and then they starve.
It matters to me, because I care about suffering, that these animals not suffer.

Additionally I have no special affection for humans nor do I value them above all other life forms. As a matter of fact I'd rather the numbers of humans be culled back significantly to provide room for non-humans.

It may seem a paradox to you, but I can both care about them and enjoy hunting and eating them.
That's life, it's how god designed things to be.

This psychological paradox is not unique to me. Many people who lived a sustenance existence--American Indians for instance--expressed this same paradoxical relationship to the realities of their lives and the necessities of procuring food.

[Gallstones]

Yes they are. A buck or bull with a big rack is highly coveted as a trophy head for the wall.

Big racks are always highly coveted.

I'm more interested in a big codpiece.

?

Cod is one of my favorite fishes.

Trigger Warning!!!1! :

And I love a man in a uniform

Trigger Warning!!!1! :