I say that we need to stop all of this nonsense. Reintroduce wolves, bears, and mountain lions into the neighborhoods that are overrun with deer and wild turkey. Herd all the seals into pens where we also put polar bears that are drowning from the melting ice due to global warming(Where the hell has big Al been anyway, he kinda shutup after all these winter storms). If there are too many for the bears, fly some of them into white shark territory. Then " nature will take it's course" and the populations will begin to regulate themselves again! A few people may die from collateral kills but that's to be expected and welcome. That way the animals will insure that only the strongest and fastest survive. All will be Utopia. No killings except for food and survival as "nature intended it".
That is a good idea.
I no longer hunt. Not because I don;t believe in it, but because I'm not that crazy about the meat and I don't have the freezer space. In my area there are nearly as many deer killed by cars and trucks as by hunters. Bag limits are not working as the areas that could be hunted before are being taken up by developers building overpriced houses for stupid people who will pay for them. Many areas where deer used to run are now whitecollar ghettos. Projects for those who have money and no common sense. 250K for a house with no yard or worse an apartment. They call em condo's but let's get real they are apartments. As a result you have two groups of people- the ones who like to watch the cute little tick infested deer and filthy turkeys that destroy everything, and those who scream about them eating the stupid flowers they plant. Yet the latter does not want a nice big steaming gut pile in their yard anymore than the first. They want the state to do something. Great- politicians doing something. THat is a big joke in itself. Those morons can't even sit next to each other with out sniping. WHy not use contraceptiv methods they ask. Ok we'll give you people IUD's and condoms to put in and on the animals- GO FOR IT! I'll bring the video camera!
I don't hunt anymore either. Primarily because I just never did figure out how killing something with an advanced nervous system was any fun? I mean I am all for eating, but I can more cheaply and easily go to the store for the meat I consume. I get the target shooting, and still enjoy archery and target clays myself. But killing? I don't enjoy it.
Yuppies are everywhere, and if we are talking about population control then I reckon they should be included in that. Vermin like any other. And politicians as well, have any of them ever done any good? Seems to me like all they do is get in the way of progress and then pat themselves on the back while voting themselves another raise.
Seriously though- at the present time we are the dominant species.
Define dominant. If it is by numbers than we are way down the totem pole. If you are talking influence, well I suppose. But I bet insects at the least outlast us.
We have control over all of this
You can't control what you don't understand. The Earth is too massive for us to say we can "control" it. And everything we do that has any measurable impact is a negative force. We are taking species out of the ecosystem without truly understanding their roles all the while pumping toxins into the environment and suddenly we are facing rapid climate change and "cancer clusters" and people wonder why? If this is control then please, somebody let go of the steering wheel!
( except climate change which is a natural part of the earth;s cycles!).
It sure is, but the problem is that we are seeing a rise in temperatures that is far more rapid than is "natural". We have seen rapid climate change in the past to be sure, and it seems that following that rapid change is mass extinctions. Not pretty. Is that where we are headed now? I don't know, I sure hope not. But what I do know is that weather patterns are going to change and places like the "Breadbasket" regions of countries like the US and Canada may become more similar to deserts than they currently are. In other words it is quite likely that we may fail to grow enough crops to feed the amount of people on Earth if the climate sufficiently shifts, and wars are likely to occur in an attempt to control the few areas that are fertile enough to grow any significant food sources. The parched great interior of Australia may suddenly become like the American prarie, but I don't have any hope that the Australian military can defend it against the hordes of starving nations, like the US and China, just to pick two.
What am I getting at? How about we make a real attempt to reduce our influence on climate change and begin to spend some real money and talent to see where the current trends are leading us, so maybe we can figure out how to cope with what is coming without the need for war. Mad Max may not be more than 150 years away.
We are predators and as such prey on lesser forms of life. That's the way it is. If you chooose not to do so fine. But do not infringe on the right of others to exercise their natural instincts.
I am not comfortable with terms like "lesser forms of life" unless you are referring to things like bacteria. Deer, bears, lions, seals, people, we all work the same way biologically.
Since we as a species have managed to screw up the natural balance to such an absurd degree then we should as the "thinking apes" do something responsible and try to keep things in perspective. That means some type of responsible population control, which IMO means among other considerations the most humane methods we have. I am not sure if sending Billy Bob out in his 18 foot runabout with his grandpappy's rusty 30.06 is the answer, but I do think we need to do something, and honestly we should not automatically endorse or ban any methods without sufficient study.
