Hunting, Fishing & Animal Related Sport
Introduction
The purpose of this
webpage is to educate people about hunting, fishing, and other animal related
sports. The following topics will be
covered in this web page hunting, sport
trapping, commercial fishing, fish farms, recreational fishing, bullfighting,
bearfighting, dogfighting, cockfighting, dog racing, sled dog racing, horse
racing, and horse pulls, but first I would like to tell you about wildlife
management. So please read on and learn
something new.
Wildlife Management
Not all wildlife can
be protected through parks and reserves; consequently, wildlife conservation
and management extends into other areas.
One form of wildlife management is a set of laws and regulations that
protect wild game and their habitat. Wildlife management activities are also
intended to maintain or improve the habitat for wild animals that we are
concerned about. The management of
fisheries is closely related to wildlife management, because both are directed
toward the preservation of wild species and their habitats. According to the Encyclopedia Britannica
Online “the basis for wildlife and fishery management includes research into
the ecological requirements and breeding potential of the species involved”. In order for wildlife to remain within a
sustained yield protective laws and regulations for commercial or sport take of
animals and fish are necessary. Trained
wildlife and fisheries wardens enforce the laws and regulations. According to Dr. Glenn E. Haas “the
management of sport hunting in the united states has greatly benefited form 100
years of professional organization and experience, accumulated scientific and
historic knowledge, adaptive management, public education, and public
acceptance of the fact that restrains on their recreational freedoms are the
price we pay for sustaining our wildlife resources and the quality of
experience opportunities they afford”.
Hunting
According to the
American Heritage College Dictionary hunting is the activity or sport of
persuing game (animals). Hunting is a
declining sport in
In ancient society, before the domestication of
animals, hunting was important for survival.
Once domestication was introduced hunting was a major contributor to the
food supply of a population. Animal
parts, such as hides and horns, were used to make tools and clothing.
Today hunting is generally associated with rural,
lower classes. The stereotype of hunter
is a southern redneck with a gun rack in his pickup truck. This is not what most hunters are like; most
hunters usually consider themselves in tune with the environment and some even
see themselves as environmentalists.
Benefits of Hunting:
The regulated utilization of a healthy, abundant
wildlife population often results in significant ecological benefits. Regulated harvest helps to decrease the
potential for negative interaction between wildlife and humans: For example, bears eating garbage off your
porch or coyote attacks on pets and farm animals. Regulated harvest provides a local, healthy,
organic source of food with minimal impact on other resources: For example, deer meat is one of the leanest
and healthy meats a person could eat.
Regulated harvest also helps keep some animal populations in ecological
balance with their habitat (deer, muskrat, beaver, and raccoon). An overpopulation of deer, for example, could
cause more cars hitting deer, which would eventually cause car insurance to
increase. Regulation also helps to
control populations of introduced exotic animals. Regulated harvest also helps to protect rare,
threatened, or endangered species by targeting specific predators that are
negatively affecting the species.
Trapping
Trapping is a form of hunting for profit. Trappers kill 4.9 million furbearing animals
yearly. Some of the animals that are
trapped today are raccoons, bobcats, beavers, and muskrats. Not all furbearing
species are harvested in every state.
All of the furbearing specials that are legally trapped in the northeast
are abundant in the area where they live; none are threatened or endangered. Today trapping is not very profitable. The average non-professional trapper makes
only 100 dollars a year.
History of Trapping:
The trapping of fur
bearing animals has been an enduring element of human culture ever since our
prehistoric ancestors devised the first traps. People were dependent on fur bearing animals
to provide the basic necessities to survive (meat, fur for clothing, bedding
and shelter). Trapping animals for their
meat and fur has been a long tradition in the northeast, dating back to the
first people in the area. Fur was also
the chief article of commerce for European colonies in
The utilization of furbearing animals was unchallenged throughout that
history until early in the 20th century, when the first organized
opposition to trapping occurred. The
mane reason was to have trappers develop more humane traps and to stop the
animal abuses rather than to stop trapping all together. Today thought that is a different story and
there are many organizations that would like to see trapping be outlawed.
Basic Trap designs
There are two
categories for modern traps: kill-type traps and live-holding traps. Kill-type traps are designed to kill the
animal quickly, much like the common mouse trap. There are two types of live-holding traps:
box (cage-type) and foothold traps.
The box trap is a baited wire cage with one or two doors that are
designed to close and lock one the animal steps on
a steel pan or treadle on the inside of the cage. The animal is lured into the cage by
food. This trap works well for animals
that are not adverse to entering holes or cages, but are ineffective for
catching wary specie such as the coyote.
Foothold traps usually have two metal
jaws, sometimes covered with rubber, that close when and animal steps on the
trigger pan inside of the metal jaws.
Holding traps will hold the animal until the trapper comes along and
kills it with a gun or a blunt object to the head, or lets the animal go.
Why some people are against trapping:
People find the traps
cruel. Sometimes animals are left
suspended for long periods of times often suffering and sometimes until they
die of starvation or injury. Good
trappers will check their traps daily, which is the law; this cuts down on
injury and starvation. The cruelest trap
is the leg hold trap. If the trap is
anchored properly the animal with often try to escape which often mutilates the
animals foot causing deep, painful cuts.
Some countries have banned the steel-jawed leg hold trap, but the
Commercial Fishing
Commercial fishing is often called the most dangerous occupation in the world. Fishing provides a large quantity of food for many counties around the world, but those who practice it must often peruse fish far out into the ocean and during bad weather. Commercial fisherman harvest almost all aquatic species, form tuna and salmon, to shrimp, lobster, clams and squid. Commercial fishing methods have become very efficient using huge nets and sea-born processing factories. Populations of some species, such as cod, have collapsed because of over fishing and pollution. A number of solutions have been imposed such as limited seasons, limited yearly fish harvest and international treaties. The major problem is that many underdeveloped countries have not developed steps to stop the collapse of fish species. According to some data fish stocks are at an all time low.
Fish Farms
Fish farming or aquaculture raises fish commercially in tanks or enclosures. The fish are usually raised for food, though they are often used to seed sport-fishing areas, often called stocking. Fish farming has developed over centuries, but large scale commercial aquaculture is a little more than 30 years old. It has generated a bad reputation for many reasons, but new technologies, new breads and newly domesticated species of fish offer great hope for the future.
Problems:
Critics argue that aquaculture fish are fatty and not as good for humans as wild fish (the same ones who want to stop commercial fishing). Fished raised in fish farms get antibiotics, they are also fed dye so they become the color they would be if raised in the ocean (nobody wants to eat a grey salmon). They also argue that the fish are polluting the ocean and land. The pellets that they are fed go to the bottom of the ocean and disrupt the ecosystem. The critics also say that the fish farming is unsustainable. When a carnivorous fish, such as salmon, is reared on a farm, it has to be feed with fish. This fish is coming from the ocean and is depleting more stocks of fish.
Benefits:
Many people believe that fish farming will help the fish stocks in the ocean to increase again. As aquaculture gets more advanced and safer commercial fishing will begin to decline. Fish farming is also thought to be a good way to feed poor and starving nations.
What’s to come?
Aquaculture scientists are doing many things to make fish farming better. Cameras are put underwater to see when the fish stop feeding, so pellets will stop being released and will not damage the bottom of the ocean. Also scientists are coming up with new pellets that contain less fish meat, they believe in a few years less than 30% of the fish food will come from real fish.
Recreational fishing
Recreational
fishing is usually done with a fishing rod, line, and a hook. Laws typically limit the number of fish that
can be caught. In
Sport fishing:
Sport
fishing is a recent phenomenon where fishermen compete for prizes based on the
total weight of fish caught in a limited amount of time. This sport often evolved from local fishing
derbies into a large competition circuit in the
Bullfighting
Bullfighting
is a kind of spectacle with a number of variations. It is popular in
The Spanish version of the sport is called the corrida de toros. The event begins with a procession accompanied by music; next, the bull enters the ring, to be tested for ferocity by the matador. After a period of time, men on horses (called picadors) ride past the pull and put lances into the bull’s neck, which further enrage the bull and also weaken its neck muscles. The audience often objects to excessive use of the lance, because it causes the bull to be too tired. Next, banderilleros goad the bull so they can stab the bull’s shoulders with sharpened, colored sticks. Finally the matador reenters the ring alone with a small red cape; he uses the cape to attract the bull. He then attempts to maneuver the bull into a passion to stab it between the shoulders and through the heart. This usually fails, and the toreador must cut the bull’s spinal cord with a second sword, killing it instantly. Very occasionally a very resilient bull will be spared. The Portuguese version is done on horseback and does not involve hurting the bull.
The Cruelty of bullfighting:
Animal
right activists strongly object to the sport because of the slow painful death
the bulls must endure. They believe that
bullfights are barbaric and relics of the dark ages. Many countries have banned kill bullfights. Bloodless variations have been adapted in
some places, including
