People who enjoy killing animals have long tried to
disguise their barbarity in a cloak of respectability they call "sporthunting".
The fact is, sporthunting does not exist. It never has.
All sports share certain conditions to ensure a sense of
fair play and create equal opportunity for all participants. What the
animal killers call sport hunting meets none of the conditions of real
sports. Let's take a look at some of the criteria that define sport and
why so-called sporthunting fails every one of them.
Willingness to Participate - In any sport, all
participants choose to be there. Both boxers want to be in the ring that
night, the players on both football teams want to be on the field that
day, and both tennis players agree to meet on the court at that time. Sporthunting fails on this point because the animal is never a willing
participant.
Knowing When the Contest Will Start - All basketball
players are aware of the starting time of the game, giving them time to
prepare. Golfers know what time they will tee off. Wrestlers know what
time the match will start. They don't expect their opponent to break into
their home and hurt or kill them while they are sleeping or having
breakfast with their family, which is what happens to animals because this
sporting condition is not met.
Even Chance - All participants are given the same
equipment with which to play the game. Both boxers have equally weighted
gloves and protective gear, as do football and hockey players. Bowlers are
only allowed to throw one ball at a time while all rowers use the same
numbers of oars. Sporthunting fails here also because the hunters have
airplanes, automatic weapons, high-powered scopes, steel traps, etc.,
while the animal has only the equipment it was given at birth.
Equal Prize - The criterion here insures the same prize is
awarded to whichever team or player wins the contest. The prize itself may
be a trophy, belt or an award, but the commercial and athletic value of
that prize is the same for each potential winner. Sporthunting fails
miserably on this point because the prize is life itself, but it is not an
equal prize. The hunter can only win or draw while the animal can only
draw or lose. The hunter wins by killing the animal or draws if the animal
manages to escape. Conversely, the animal draws by getting away or loses
by being killed. The animal cannot win.
Some hunters say that once in a while the animal wins by
killing the hunter but that only happens on rare occasions with all the
odds stacked against the animal, who is never a willing participant
anyway. I have heard some hunters say that hunting is not about the
animals at all. It is, they insist, an awareness of self.
Once and for all, let's not buy into their facade.
Sporthunting is not a sport. It is simply an excuse for unhappy men and
women to go out and kill. How do I arrive at the fact they are an unhappy
lot? Look around you! Happy people do not take time away from their
happiness to go out and kill something. The real shame is that
sporthunters pass this travesty onto their children who will come to
believe that killing is a sport.
~~~~~
(c) 1996
Dino DiGiacomo, my best friend, wrote this and I helped get it submitted
in a Friends of Animals publication for him years ago. Since anti-hunting
is such a big issue more now than usual, he has given me permission to
promote this article in any way that I feel that it can help.
With the passing of time, the broad strokes of
anti-hunting campaigns shall be enriched and the means to these ends made
in silver clarity. As you can see, we propose a major undertaking, but the
time for such a thing is long past and there may never be the opportunity
for such an advance again.
If you will stand with us there is nothing we cannot
overcome. If you do not already belong to Protect R Wildlife, do so now,
for this effort will take numbers as well as resources.
We have the good will of the public in our hands. We must
grasp it and forge an armament aimed and warred with such dynamic might
that our enterprise deals a fatal blow to hunting.
You are permitted to cross-post, but must get permission
from [email protected]
to publish it in the media or other web sites. We want to know where and
when it is going to be published so we can get a copy. It is published on
www.ProtectRWildlife.org .
NEW PETITION PLEASE HELP:
http://www.PetitionOnline.com/PRWNHS/petition.html
HUNTING ACCIDENT REPORTS:
http://www.all-creatures.org/cash/taah.html#safe
Go on to Websites of
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