Synthesis Essay: The Negative Effects Of Hunting

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Hunting is the intentional act of tracking and killing wild animals while poaching is the illegal harvesting of game or fish. The pursue of animals has developed from being a necessity for survival to violent murders of prey creating an indisputable brutality towards countless species of wildlife for sport or monetary gain. Poaching and hunting for sport are vicious acts of savagery that must be terminated to save the extinction of many wildlife animals and the selling of animal body parts in the black market. Poaching threatens the dying out of endangered species. Lions have virtually disappeared in Africa causing animal activists to protest for stricter rules on hunting big game. Damian Aspinall, director of the Aspinall Foundation, said, …show more content…

“The decrease in numbers and even the disappearance of many large predators due to habit loss and inbreeding has made hunting a necessity for controlling the population size of certain prolific species, such as deer and geese” (Source 2). The number of species generally deemed as prey has skyrocketed with the disappearance of many large predators. Hunting is now considered a necessity only for these specific species that are over populating an area. Without the removal of these plenteous species, inbreeding and mutations will occur creating problems with the species in the future. “An abiding theme in hunting literature is the healing, calming, insight-generating effects of hunter sojourns in natural settings. The hunter ideal is not violent abandon but calm reflection of the holistic circumstances of the irreversible decision to harvest the life of a game animal” (Source 3). Hunters argue that hunting is not solely murdering with no remorse; it is a pensive act. The hunting literature explains that hunters feel contrition from making a kill and claiming the life of an animal contradicting the stereotypical opinion that every hunter is a stone cold killer. Average hunters who hunt for deer and geese for example only help in maintaining overpopulated species in certain areas. Even though maintaining …show more content…

“Many airlines now ban shipments of African “Big Five wildlife trophies. Celebrities around the world, as well as the media, are condemning the illegal killing of animals for sport. The United Nations has also spoken out in a historic resolution on wildlife trafficking by the U.N. General Assembly that “strongly encouraged governments to commit to targeted actions to eradicate supply, transit and demand for illegal wildlife products” (Source 4). Countries, media, and celebrities are now discouraging the illegal killing of large game and urges the governments of many countries to enact laws to stop the black market distribution of these predators. It is important to prohibit illegal trophies and to enforce these laws with punishments and fines to remove species from the endangered species list and stop extinctions. Stricter laws and regulations can protect and save entire species from ceasing to exist. “Just months after the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History accepted a $20 million donation from big-game hunter Kenneth Behring, the Institution sought a FWS permit to import the trophy remains of two endangered wild sheep that Behring shot in Central Asia…After a storm of ugly publicity, the Smithsonian abandoned the permit application” (Source 1). The case of the Smithsonian Museum attempting to import two endangered sheep is just one

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