"...we hope that Vice President Dick Cheney and the whole hunting fraternity will reconsider hunting for the benefit of both humans and animals." - PETA Press Release

PETA is right! Because hunting does benefit both humans and animals.

Through the Pittman-Robertson Act of 1937 hunters have contributed over 4 billion dollars for the benefit of wildlife species. This money has gone toward the purchase of millions of acres of public lands for the benefit of wildlife.Through membership and support of more than 10,000 clubs and organizations like the NRA, Ducks Unlimited, Safari Club International, National Wild Turkey Federation, Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation and Quail Unlimited, hunters create $300 million in revenue per year for wildlife conservation.Hunters and fishermen also provide the funding for almost 75% of the annual income of the conservation agencies of all 50 states. License fees and excise taxes charged to sportsmen on arms, ammo and other gear raises another $200 million per year. That's a lot of money for wildlife conservation.

Hunting is a wildlife management tool and prevents degradation of environment and habitat types. Excessive numbers of large herbivores (deer, elk, moose) can cause negative effects such as increased soil erosion, reduced tree seedling growth and decreased songbird populations. In many cases hunting is the only practical way of reducing and preventing these negative trends.

In the 1990s, Fox Chapel, PA discovered the deer population had exploded. They discovered they had 103 deer per square mile, or more than ten times what they considered the ideal herd size. The only sensible way of controlling the herd size was by hunting. Since the hunting program began deer numbers have been reduced by nearly 50% and auto/deer collisions have dropped by 75%. The herd size is still much higher than the 5-10 per square mile ideal size, but the situation has improved.

So thank you, PETA, for pointing out what many of us have known all along. Hunting benefits both humans and animals!

Thanks to Doll for pointing me to the press release!

¶ Sunday, February 19, 2006