Dr. Lecter
Contributor
Dr Lector, is there any hunting that you support? or is it a general disdain for hunting in general. IM only asking to understand your perspective. IS fishing ok?
If you'd read the thread, you'd have seen that I said I grew up hunting (boar, whitetail, and the occasional grey squirrel or rabbit if I was out with the .22 and felt like stew or pot pie) and I still do a little spearfishing now and then with a pole spear. I'd do more except that I don't even like fish all that much... though I do enjoy the stalk. I have nothing against hunting, spearfishing, or diving for bugs. I won't hunt octos because I don't find them that tasty and, more importantly to me, I generally prefer not to eat the more interesting megafauna. Similarly, even if sea turtles were legal to hunt out here, I wouldn't.
All that said, I accept that there are people out there who find very tasty the animals I like enough not to hunt them, whether that's tako divers here in HI, snapping turtle eaters back in the SE US, or the whole slew of people on this planet who like dog BBQed more than sleeping at the foot of the bed. And so long as they're doing what they do in a respectful, or at least generally civilized, way, I'll leave them well enough alone.
That was not the case here. In this instance, a guy who gets off on filming his punting of porcupines, airbag blasting of chickens, firecracker stuffing of snakes, and general spoiled frat boy type antics with guns and booze came onto everyone's radar when he took a relatively rare and very popular animal from an area where it was well known as an attraction for divers to look at. And true to the sort of form he's put out there on (now private, but previously public) social media, when told it was uncool his response was " you, I'll do what I want and since it pisses you off, I'm gonna come back and do it again!" (Paraphrased, obviously).
You do that, and you deserve all that (legally) happens to you because of it. Killing an octo? BFD. Being a sleazy piece of barely human trash with zero regard for others or the natural world? Yeah, I'll be happy to see your life go down the tubes.
In short, had he taken the GPO and then said 'Well, sorry you're upset, but it was legal and I didn't know you guys treat this place as a marine reserve--because, you know, it's not.' when confronted, I'd only support efforts to change the rules. But because I took the time to get to see how he was dealing with the situation and to see how he presented himself to the world, it's my opinion that there's more he deserves than just a future law change.