Some Thoughts on Hunting for Trophy Animals – And Some Tips on Punctuation
The news item of the rogue dentist who killed Cecil, Zimbabwa’s favorite lion will soon be off of the front page, but it prompted me to make this post to FB, and some thoughtful posts, so I thought I would share it.
A conundrum:
1. WV has a tradition of hunting. Fathers, and Mothers, teach sons and daughters.
2. A furry friend is just as alive as a fishy friend, and my best friend Dick and I harvest 100 or so a year from our pond and kill perhaps a dozen a year inadvertently. We should throw a couple hundred small ones up on the bank, but we’re “chicken”.
3. Killing the largest and most fit changes the gene pool.
4. My guess is that in 50 years, WV adult deer will be the size of our dog, Duffy.
5. Killing apex predators such as lions, elephants, and deer from now tiny populations of them is changing the gene pool dramatically, and losing diversity. CNN today reported that there are hardly any large mained lions left.
6. I have a big ego (oh really?). In another world, I might want to show my prowess in things male by stalking and killing. Clearly, someone in my bloodline probably did that.
7. Killing for trophies is not killing for the family and bringing the food, and every other part, back for its use.
8. As I get older, the things I kill have been reduced to the ones that land on me, sting me, and keep me up in bed. Others are escorted out.
9.. Killing the big beasts has a tremendous symbolic significance. The number of species is declining, and whether you believe in global warming or not, you must admit we are outgrowing out planet, and we sure haven’t made much progress getting off of it.
10. So, I think the people who threatened the rich, and obviously very bored and insecure, dentist, are wrong. But, he deserves to be convicted for what very clearly is a crime, (he did try to hide/destroy the animal’s tracking collar) and to be shunned for doing something against the interest of the animals, against nature, against the country of Zimbabwe, and against our planet.
11. I still have my concealed pistol permit, I still harvest my fish, I still believe in the Second Amendment, I will still shoot you if you invade my house, and I still believe in the licensed (after proper training) use of firearms in WV.
12. But the dentist should be ashamed.
13. He’s the “Tom Brady” of big game hunters, even to the extent of “murdering” an innocent electronic helper. Sorry Siri!
My Facebook Friends’ comments:
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Danny Kuhn Burt, I will agree with everything here except the “big ego” part. -
Joyce Helmick Morton The dentist needs to be flailed. Put down. He’s a small man with no balls. If he wants the Big Hunt he should join the service. Hunt something that hunts him back. Now there’s a real sport.
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Julia Brady Grammar Police: no apostrophe needed in father’s and mothers should not be capitalized. As one who has harvested a few deer, I agree that this guy needs to be punished in a very public way. I would send him to work in the villages of Zimbabwe for a year.
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Frank Warren III You have hit the nail directly on the head Burt. This dentist, a little man who must be insecure compensates by killing animals making him feel superior. I would love to see him deported and jailed, this guy does not care about fines. I encourage his patients to go elsewhere. Killing for sport or trophies disgust me. Years ago I spoke with a very old man who ask if I hunt. I told him I did not and had not since my late teens. I ask him why when he said he had not hunted in years because the older he got the more he appreciated life. I never forgot that. As for your ego, I think a successful person must have a little ego, self confidence and arrogance to be successful. I do I am sure and I think most who are successful in life do also. Character flaw, hopefully not.
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Frank Warren III FYI, I have had a concealed permit for 47 years since I was 22, they have been issued in three states over the years, Maine, Virginia and WV. I never leave home without it. Paranoid, I think not Burt, all you have to do is see the nut jobs out there. It only takes being in the wrong place at the wrong time just once.. take care.
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Burt Hunter Julia; back to the ego thing. When I was in 3rd grade, I was crying at home because I couldn’t finish reading an assigned book. My Mother read it to me. .I was filled with wonder. By 4th grade, my teacher asked the class whether Burt on Becky read better out loud. They all yelled “Becky!” of course. Becky was a very smart girl. “No.” she said, Burt reads with more feeling.”. By 5th grade, my group of reading buddies were reading 100 books a year each. Kathy Shores, my recent FB new friend, was the champ at 106. Since then I read thousands. So, no surprise that I was in the top 99% in my SAT in English grammar and punctuation, and became a semi-finalist for National Merit Scholarhip. My English teacher was indignant that I didn’t apply my knowledge better in his classroom. I also read “Eats, Shoots, and Leaves” about the reckless Panda. So, I have moved the apostrophe because it was really a comma, and put it after mothers, thus closing the appositive. It is after all parenthetical. Alas, for 40 years, my wonderful staff members have left the Upshur Country Public Schools with no clue where comma is needed. Thus we have “sprinkled” comma’s and, this cost us 20 points if we did it at Linsly, the dreaded “comma sentence splice”. Thanks for keeping me on my toes.
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Burt Hunter Frank; during my 42 years of practice, there have been 12 deaths, suicides and homocides. Former clients have been murdered within 100 ft. of this spot. I have been told that I am a “Dead MF” if I step out on main St., which I promptly did. My family and I have endured violence and stalking. Now “officers of the court” may not bring a weapon to court in our briefcase, which I did for several years. And our County Commission advises that it cannot afford to beef up security. We never know when it is coming, and it probably won’t be right at hand when it does. So far, so good. I just try to treat opponents with respect, and firmness when needed.
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Lee Frizzell Oh, he is far, far worse than Tom Brady!
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Rebecca Bonner Ringer I barely knew my father. If I was in his presence more than a dozen times after age 2, I’d be surprised. However, on one occasion, when he showed me his hunting cabin in Hampshire County, he told me he had once loved to hunt, but that he had reached a point in his life when he thought it more important to spare the lives of animals, rather than take their lives for sport. He had always eaten what he killed or had shared the meat with friends, so he was not a trophy hunter. But one day he decided to lay down his gun and pick up a camera. He said the pleasure of the hunt for subjects for his lens was just as satisfying, if not more so, than the hunt for something to kill. One of the last things he shot was a large, wild turkey, which he prepared for me, along with all the fixin’s, one Thanksgiving at his cabin. I will always regret that I didn’t know this man better, but his attitude toward the lives of animals made me love him. (He was a wonderful cook, too.)
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Burt Hunter Great post thanks!
This post was written by Burton Hunter