I read an editorial in today’s Chicago Tribune regarding the overpopulation of wild horse herds in the west. The anguish has always been that if these horses are rounded up and sold to the highest bidder they will end up in France on a butchers hook. Poor Trigger.
I have a radical view that should not be considered radical except for those who don’t understand dominion. I won’t attempt to give the entire theological basis for this but Man was placed here to have dominion. Dominion means sometimes we eat other organisms as part of our dominion. Food chain. Some of those organisms are green leafy, some are kernel (Corn Flakes) and some say MOOO. We often patronize companies with golden arches that serve all three with a special sauce. They call it Big Mac. They could call it the dominion burger.
Here’s the radical part. I have lived and worked around the world in my lifetime. I have eaten lots of things which others might be squeamish about. My theology says, if it’s edible and there’s a place that wants them, let them eat them.
I’m a hunter. I’m not a killer. I only kill what I eat. I have known purists in this, if they killed a crow or a sparrow even by accident they eat it. To kill wantonly is wrong. I saw “Dances with Wolves” last Sunday on TV. The most disturbing and haunting scene is hundreds of dead buffalo stripped of their hides and left for the carrion feeders by money hunters. I despise that kind of waste. I also despise the waste that happens in animal shelters.
Last fall I was hunting with a Pastor from Grand Forks near McVille ND. Late in the day he downed a nice doe. I stood by and helped as he eviscerated the animal for transport to his vehicle. At one point he looked up and said “this is a holy thing”. I understood exactly what he meant. I remembered the scene in “The Gods must be Crazy” when the bushman converses with the dead antelope he has just killed. It is a holy moment as he apologizes for having to take his life and promises to use him well and thanks him.
Millions of deer roam the wooded areas of the US. In upstate New York and parts of Pennsylvania the population is so high (70 head per square mile) that authorities are beginning to consider holding landowners who post their land against hunting responsible for deer auto collisions and the damage that is being done to the under story of the forests by overgrazing. If something isn’t done those who post their land against the adequate harvest of the deer on their land will lose the right to post their land. We must harvest more deer nationwide.
In Illinois in some forest preserves the act of reducing the deer herds by ¾ is met by crying animal lovers to stop the reduction. And there is the rub. If it’s Deer, Lambs, Cute little ducks, Messy Canadian Geese I can get some agreement from even thinking people that there is a need to allow do a the bushman did, harvest them for the meat they provide and keep the population at a reasonable pre agreed level. It’s when we anthropomorphize Bambi, Trigger, Lassie or Garfield that we get into trouble. There isn’t much anthropomorphism for Black Angus cattle otherwise Burger King would have to go out of business.
Wait a minute, I heard you thinking. Lassie, Garfield? The other day I was hearing someone lament the fate of greyhounds turned out to pasture when their racing days were done. My first impression was to think Oriental. I worked there. Our predecessors the original Americans a hundred years ago if you were to come to their home for dinner they might say, “did down deep, puppy in the bottom”. The meow coming from the back room of an oriental food restaurant may well be dinner preparation. How is it worse to utilize the overpopulated unwanted animal as part of our food chain responsibility? I may not want Lassie on my dinner plate but some people do. Should I be their palate policeman and tell them what they should or shouldn’t eat? That’s what Peta does.
One last thing. I am against “Mercy Killing” of pets. My dog Skip died in my arms at 18 years old. Our cat the same. I know sometimes it is better but for who? Who are we putting out of their misery, us or them? I think some mercy killings are convenience not mercy. I worry about the slippery slope in all this too. Cats, Dogs, Grandma. If killing for convenience is ok…………
You will have to ponder the difference. My position is absolutely consistent in all this. There is no place for killing without reverence for life. I’ll probably get hate mail for this. Welcome to the club.
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