DEAR DR. FOX: What you think of trophy hunting? I would appreciate your informed opinion. -- DR. A.J.T.J., Dehradun, India
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DEAR DR. A.J.T.J.: I think trophy hunting is for psychopaths. It is an ego-driven obsession for the empathy-deficient. Killing for pleasure/recreation is the antithesis of subsistence hunting -- killing to live.
The economic justifications often given for trophy hunting -- providing income for local guides and outfitters to kill old animals who are going to die anyway, rather than animals in their prime -- are rather fatuous. But the bioethics of killing invasive species is on more solid ground, I feel.
So-called “canned hunt” operations, where trophy hunters pay to kill captive-raised wildlife (often under the banner of species preservation), should be closed down. Biodiversity must be restored, creating viable natural habitats for all. In this process, selective culling may be bioethically valid in the process of rewilding.
In India, efforts to protect wildlife and iconic species such as the Asian elephant are meeting opposition by other vested interests. Climate change, invasive plants and a huge uptick in tourism are contributing to a major drive to de-list protected areas and cull elephants.
For details, see these news reports:
-- article-14.com/post/india-s-wildlife-protection-in-hands-of-those-with-interests-in-its-destruction
-- livemint.com/Opinion/dFql2X72U2SgEBPQXdKKiL/An-elephant-scientist-who-missed-the-jumbo-on-the-track
I reported in an earlier column that this year, the Indian government banned environmental education and climate change discussion in schools. Meanwhile, here in the U.S., most government agencies have natural resource departments that do not put their primary focus on habitat and wildlife protection, biodiversity restoration and control of invasive species. Instead, priority is given to the industries of hunting, trapping, fishing, timber, cattle ranching, agriculture and mining -- not to mention recreational tourism, with the construction and maintenance of roads, trails, camp sites and lodges. All this, even though restoration of wildlife habitats is an essential element of reducing the negative impacts of climate change.
So, India is just further down the same road as the U.S. in putting human interests before those of other species. The ultimate fragmentation of wildlife habitat, increased human encroachment and population expansion, compounded by livestock and agricultural intrusion, are aggravating climate change and facilitating the emergence of pandemic diseases.
It is ironic that white-tailed deer -- whose Minnesota population is managed by the state for hunters who lobby for the virtual extermination of “competing” wolves -- is now a concerning potential source of new variants of COVID-19. Veterinarian Andrew Bowman and colleagues at Ohio State University have found that wild deer have become reservoirs for SARS-CoV-2. Also, “the evidence is growing that humans can get it from deer, which isn’t radically surprising,” said Bowman. Researchers say that the virus mutates faster in deer than in humans, and that variants that were no longer common in people were found in deer.
I should add that humans can transmit SARS-CoV-2 to domestic cats, which can then become infected and transmit the virus to other cats, whether through direct contact or contact with feces or contaminated surfaces. Infected cats shed the virus and can infect others for roughly eight hours. This is just another reason to keep all cats indoors. (Full story: Earth.com, May 31)
DEAR DR. FOX: Your recent column on animal reincarnation was interesting, as I’d never heard anyone else speak on this issue. I have a story of my own to share.
After our very old Lab, Hagen, died, we buried him in our dog graveyard at the edge of the woods. Each night for a couple of weeks afterward, we saw a young deer standing directly on Hagen's grave. The deer would stand there and look at us.
Then one night, we heard an animal noise out back. My husband looked outside and told me, "Come see this!" There was "Hagen-Deer" coming across the yard, looking at us and “speaking” to us. He came right up, stopping just a few feet away. We talked softly to him, and then noises nearby alerted us to a herd of about 16 deer right at the edge of the woods. We said our goodbyes, then he joined the herd and moved off.
We didn’t see him again. But we were positive it was him. -- M.R., Trenton, New Jersey
DEAR M.R.: I have an open mind when it comes to reincarnation -- the transmigration of the soul from one life to the next. But there is evidence of after-death manifestations, especially in animals who were closely bonded with their human companions, as per this post on my website: drfoxonehealth.com/tags/spiritual-issues.
In this instance, with the young deer already existing as an ensouled being when your dog passed, it is tempting to think that part of your dog’s spirit touched this deer with whom you enjoyed a most unexpected communion. On the other hand, the deer might have sensed your good intentions and love for your deceased dog, coming to you in trust for a memorable moment of interspecies communication.
Our love of nature and of our fellow creatures is interwoven on many levels, including the biological affinities between plants and animals. These are mutually enhancing symbioses, as exemplified by the beneficial bacteria in our guts, without which we could not live. Our treating nature simply as a resource, and objectifying animals as commodities, truly represent a “fall from grace.”
(Send all mail to animaldocfox@gmail.com or to Dr. Michael Fox in care of Andrews McMeel Syndication, 1130 Walnut St., Kansas City, MO 64106. The volume of mail received prohibits personal replies, but questions and comments of general interest will be discussed in future columns.
Visit Dr. Fox’s website at DrFoxOneHealth.com.)