Does hunting create a better relationship between humans and the natural world? A better relationship between us and the natural world means that there are benefits for both parties. Being more involved and having a closer relationship with the natural world is beneficial for both our own physical and mental well being (15). By being more conscious of the world around us, it is possible to live in such a way that has little negative effect on the environment and that can conserve areas of true wilderness. Can hunting help us to create a closer relationship like this? Or, does it cause us to view ourselves as above nature, like gods, with the right to exploit the world for all it has to offer?
Why hunt? Historically, hunting was a necessity for survival, and in many parts of the world, this is still the case. This is known as subsistence hunting. Hunting can also be used for wildlife management purposes, as a means of protection against predators, to rid of pests to crops, or to control species population. Hunting is also enjoyed for recreation and sport. Hunters from all types of communities have their own rules, reasons and justifications for hunting, some of which may be shared with other types of hunters, others which may conflict greatly. One hunter’s actions can also affect non-hunter opinions on hunting in general. These opinions are a driving force behind hunting laws and therefore play a major part in deciphering the effect and role of hunting in society and in the natural world.
Respect Recreational hunting could perhaps be considered as a modern day incarnation. As it is carried out for pleasure, rather than out of necessity, it is a massively controversial subject of which its morality, justification and sustainability have all been questioned. In 2005, the Hunting Act was introduced to ban fox hunting with a pack of dogs in the UK. The RSPCA label the sport as “barbaric [and] outdated” (11) and state that still today between 70 - 80% of the British public support the ban (11). Allowing a pack of dogs to track down and kill a fox for sport obviously has no benefit for the fox. The level of cruelty and unfair chase disregards the rights of the animal and encourages a view that we are superior. Like fox hunting, Trophy hunting is another form of sport where large game animals such as elephants, lions, rhinos, pumas, bears etc are shot under official government license. Often, at least part of the animal is kept by the hunter as a souvenir representing the ‘successful’ hunt (3). It’s hard to argue why anyone who holds respect for an animal would want to go out and shoot it. However, trophy hunting is a booming industry in which large sums of money are often paid by the hunter so that they can pursue an animal. It is argued that this money then goes towards conservation efforts in order to sustain certain species, habitats and ecosystems. A trophy hunter might argue that by taking the life of one member of a species, they could help to save the species as a whole in the long run.
However, it could be questioned whether these efforts are to conserve out of a love for the natural world, or to simply sustain a population so that the hunter can hunt. Couldn’t the money be donated to conservation efforts without the need to kill an animal? Although on the face of it the relationship could be argued as mutually beneficial, it isn’t necessarily one with respect. If they wish, the hunter never has to fully engage with the natural world as they have full control over all circumstances of the hunt. This creates a sense of separation and superiority on the hunters side, which only begs the question, is the relationship sustainable?
...the Hand that Feeds.
Hunting for Ecological Consciousness Media platforms around the world tend to have a heavy focus on these types of hunting due to their controversy. The fact that they are highly publicised in regard to other forms means that they are the “primary public image or perception of hunting”(4) in many areas around the world. This obviously creates a narrow minded view of what hunting is, and more importantly, what it can be. “Evidence of poor behavior even by a few can poison the waters of public opinion”(13). However, “Hunter behavior and ethics are tested largely out of the view of society”(13). Through experiencing hunting and engaging with the natural world, hunters are often the ones that question their actions the most.
The Minds Eye
Despite it being the focus of most media coverage, a nationwide report by Responsive Management (10) discovered that only around 1% of American hunters aged 18 and older considered hunting for trophy to be their primary reason to hunt. In contrast, the majority consider hunting for meat and to be with family and friends to be their main reasons. Although in the highly industrialised world that we live in today hunting for meat isn’t generally a necessity, many hunters do make a conscious decision to sustain themselves this way. Making it a lifestyle choice that encompasses who they are and not just a hobby they carry out every once and again. Choosing to sustain oneself this way could be a more ethical approach than the current agricultural model of the western world; one that is prone to the “exploitation of food animals”(12) and also exploitation of land. If a hunter kills a wild animal that has lead a natural existence, and if the hunter abides by ethical and conservation laws that ensure the welfare of the animal and environment go unharmed, then isn’t that a more ethical practice of obtaining meat? Whilst western societies often turn a blind eye to industrial agriculture and slaughter to avoid any moral discomfort (12), hunters of this kind actively face up to this reality and question the ethics of the relationship.
Connecting Our highly industrialised, technology driven society has left little room for true wilderness, resulting in a lack in opportunities to connect with nature on a primal level. Many hunters express how hunting has allowed this connection by providing a chance to break away from the “modern life [that] alienates us from nature”(9). Active engagement with the natural world informs our interactions with wild things and wild places, it provides a formative window into the inner workings of ecosystems and our ethical relationship with and within those systems (13). This ethical form of hunting “acknowledges moral responsibility for the taking of life, and embraces a concept of humanity that is connected with nature rather than separate and detached from it”(12), thus creating a sense of self and place in the world. Because of this, many hunters approach hunting with spiritual significance. They believe that the land has offered them the life of the animal, and that because of this, they are obliged to give back an ‘equivalent’ life to take its place. Therefore the hunter becomes the caretaker of the land giving themselves to ensure the protection of the wilderness (7).
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Engagement & Participation In the world that we live in today, it’s easy to assume that people would only hunt out of choice and no longer out of necessity. For many tribal and indigenous communities around the world however, subsistence hunting is still “critical to their nutrition, food security, and economic stability� (2). Hunting wild animals is central to the culture and way of life of communities even in remote corners of highly industrialised countries such as the USA and Canada. Perhaps once again down to the aforementioned stigma due to the widespread reporting of sport hunting, many people maybe quick to judge some of the hunting traditions of such communities. However the ecological consciousness adopted by ethical hunters is more evident in these communities than anywhere else. Whether in the Arctic Tundra or in Amazon rainforest, where hunting is no longer a choice, but a necessity to survive, a deep understanding of the balance of the natural world is at its evermost important in order to sustain it. Their own survival hangs in the balance with the condition of the natural world, meaning they must create a mutual relationship with it.
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Going Forward It is hard to ignore the fact thought that there are unusual changes happening in the environment on global scale. Industrially advanced societies such as our own are arguably the main culprits of such changes, but the effects are often felt most in the rural areas in which indigenous communities live. As environmental and conservation concerns rise, so do quotas on what can be hunted, making it even harder for these indigenous communities to sustain themselves. In the series Arctic, explorer and documentarian Bruce Parry visits an Inuit tribe in Greenland where his guide and local hunter explains: “We are hunters, but we don’t wipe out the animals. We just get a few. We are friendlier to the environment than polluting countries�(1). As industry moves in and a lot of these communities become less remote, less detached from the developed world, they find themselves in a position trapped somewhere between the old and the new. In Greenland, a lot of hunters have left their traditional ways to work in more secure, paid jobs such as in the mining industry. Unfortunately, this shift in culture away from a traditional way of life has left many people disorientated, alienated and lacking a sense of identity. This shift is seen as the main cause of increased alcoholism and suicide rates in Greenland (8).
More positive outcomes however are now being developed thanks to this acknowledgment of a connection between poor mental wellbeing and a lack of involvement with the natural world. Arctic with Bruce Parry also shows that in the Greenland town of Uummannaq, social campaigner Ole Jørgen Hammeken and his wife Anne run a children’s home for children that have fell victim to the social problems. Talking about how they help the children, Ole says that here they can “learn the importance of being calm and experience what it is like to be close to nature”(1) through learning from the traditional Inuit hunters that still remain and the lifestyle that they have lived. “I really believe that these hunters can teach the children things that will help them in later life, Greenland is going through so many changes. If the hunter’s connection to the natural world disappears then it would be a great loss for our people. We would lose our identity” (1).
Self
Closer relations between indigenous hunters and western scientist are also being made. The hunters can offer a wealth of knowledge about animal behaviour and environmental factors that might be impossible for outsider scientist to observe. The Kaxinawa´people of Western Amazonia for example have collaborated with conservation biologists since 1996. The Kaxinawa´ supplied data by self monitoring their hunting. This support their own hypotheses about animal populations in their territory and have helped to put in place wildlife management and natural resource usage plans in that area (5).
Intertwined
A Better Relationship “Hunting isn’t the only human activity that permits a high degree of engagement with nature, but it is probably the archetype, and it could be argued that the end of hunting might also mark the beginning of the end of this type of fundamental human connection with the wild” (12). Although killing an animal isn’t the only way to achieve this engagement, hunting does face us up to the truths and reality of the consequences of our actions on the natural world. Although hunting for sport or pest control does encourage the view that we are separated from the natural world, and risks exploitation for our own desires, the topic of hunting itself opens up the debate in how we should engage with the natural world. Therefore, the discussion on hunting forces us to assess our relationship with it. There is a “wild dance of death” (14) in the mind of the ethical hunter; the constant self evaluation and ecological consciousness born from engaging and understanding the natural world and mortality. It is this, along with the sense of self created from having a deep understanding of our participation with those things, that can allow us to create a better relationship with the natural world.
1. 2011.
Alaska, 2011. Arctic with Bruce Parry. [TV Programme]. BBC, BBC 2, 23 January
2. Alaska Department of Fish and Game, n.d. Subsistence Hunting in Alaska. [online] Avalaiable at: <http://www.adfg.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=subsistence.hunting> 3. Carwardine. M., 2016. Everything You Need to Know about Trophy Hunting. [online] Discover Wildlife. Available at: <http://www.discoverwildlife.com/news/9-facts-you-probablydidnt-know-about-trophy-hunting> 4. Criscione, A. and Duda, M. D., n.d. Understanding Hunting Today. [online] Centre for Humans and Nature. Avaliable at: <http://www.humansandnature.org/hunting-markdamian-duda-andrea-criscione> 5. Elsevier Ltd, 2008. Indigenous collaborative research for wildlife management in Amazonia: The case of the Kaxinawa´, Acre, Brazil. [pdf] Biological Conservation. Available at: <http://www.intertropi.ufam.edu.br/docs/artigo6.pdf> 6. 2011.
Greenland, 2011. Arctic with Bruce Parry. [TV Programme]. BBC, BBC 2, 9 January
7 .Lee. P., n.d. Human, Hunter, Nature, Wild. [online] Centre for Humans and Nature. Available at: <http://www.humansandnature.org/hunting-paula-lee> 8. Parry. B., 2010. Plight of the Hunters. [online] Financial Times. Avaliable at: <https:// www.ft.com/content/c71bc81a-0ee5-11e0-9ec3-00144feabdc0> 9. Poggetto. S. D., n.d. Primal Colours. [online] Centre for Humans and Nature. Avaliable at: <http://www.humansandnature.org/hunting-sandra-dal-poggetto> 10. Responsive Management, 2013. New Research Shows Hunters Increasingly Motivated by the Meat. [pdf] Responsive Management. Available at: <http://www.wildharvesttable. com/files/2013/10/http___myemail_constantcontact_com_New-Research-Shows-HuntersIncreasingly-Motivated-by-the-Meat_html-2j9lj44.pdf> 11. RSPC, 2014. Fox Hunting - Keep the Ban. [online] Avaliable at: <https://www.rspca. org.uk/getinvolved/campaign/hunting> 12. Serpell. J., n.d. Hunting and Our Connection to the Wild. [online] Centre for Humans and Nature. Avaliable at: <http://www.humansandnature.org/hunting-james-serpell> 13. Webster, C.,n.d. Hunting for Ecological Consciousness. [online] Centre for Humans and Nature. Avaliable at: <http://www.humansandnature.org/hunting-christopher-webster> 14. Donelley, C., n.d. Wild Turkeys, Young and Old, Human and Other. [online] Centre for Humans and Nature. Avaliable at: <http://www.humansandnature.org/hunting-cearadonnelley> 15. Natural England, 2016. Connecting with nature offers a new approach to mental health care. [online] UK Government. Avaliable at: <https://www.gov.uk/government/news/ connecting-with-nature-offers-a-new-approach-to-mental-health-care>
written & illustrated by
Jake Burns