Written by PETA
Of all the ways someone could choose to spend Christmas Day, deciding to go out looking for an animal to hurt, harass, and kill seems a poor choice. Yet some men in North Carolina―Christians, to boot―decided to do just that: throw their "hunting dogs" into metal boxes on the back of their pick-up truck, release them into some woods down the road, and have them flush out some deer. What they didn't plan on was a PETA staff member who was driving down the road on her way to deliver straw to a neglected "outdoor dog." Misty Collins slammed on her brakes when she saw the doe, leg dangling and bloody, dodging traffic as she tried to flee the dogs biting at her heels. Misty jumped from the van just as the deer made it across the road and collapsed to the ground. The hunter arrived, too, rifle in hand, but, although Misty begged him to shoot the deer, who was being torn apart right in front of them, at first, he refused. Then he tried to cave in the doe's head with his rifle butt, then shot her but didn’t kill her outright. Here is a picture of the bloody truck after the dead deer was loaded. Please, if you have land, post it as "No Hunting." And if you can persuade a friend with land to post it, please do. More on this story to follow.
Sorry, Art, norm or not, hunting for sport is cruel. That's the point here.
What was described may specifically be a somewhat isolated case, but hunting for sport in general is not, and is only cruel and inhumane.
Also, Norcal, 'interfering with a hunt is illegal'?
Are you kidding me? It may be an ordinance in some areas to help keep people from getting shot accidentally, but I did some checking and found that laws do exist to stop hunting saboteurs from harming hunting animals, destroying traps and the like, but there are '0', that's ZERO, laws against asking someone to either stop hunting or asking them to take humane actions (like killing the animal quickly and painlessly).
The laws on the books against interfering with hunting have to do with commerce and keeping a person from maintaining their livelihood.
Try being a little more compassionate and maybe try understanding what you're talking about in the future!
Karin, I don't care what you fear, really - I'm just laying out the facts. Hunting is a legal activity. If you'd like to lobby for the right to interfere with a legal activity, go for it.
Camille and Deborah, yes it IS illegal to interfere with hunting in California, and in many other states. These laws arose in response to the harassment tactics of some animal rights activists in the 1990s.
Wendy et al, yes, when you resort to illegal activity to further your cause, it looks bad. Just as it looks bad when hunters do illegal things. That's pretty much across the board.
Suzana, I wasn't talking about Misty interfering with a hunt. Nancy specifically said, in response to a situation she'd seen in California, "We should get together and do something to interfere with this hunting." That statement could be used against her in court; I thought she might want to know that.
Dianne, while I disagree vehemently with your contention that animals are defenseless - I find that to be an incredibly patronizing view, and one that is rooted in a profound ignorance about wildlife - I am 100% comfortable with the fact that regardless of when and how I die, my body will feed other life forms, and should reincarnation be real, I am comfortable coming back as an animal that will get eaten. I have no illusions about life on earth. We all live off of other living things, we all feed other living things. It is not pretty. It just IS.
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