Hobby hunting is barbarism

Culture of violence among recreational hunters

The modern hobby hunter is known for his ambivalent mindset and a disturbed sense of awareness.

Hobby hunters are rightly kept on a short leash time and again by nature and animal welfare advocates, politicians and others. Every hobby hunter represents a disturbance and a reduction in quality of life in the environment. In areas where no hunting takes place, wildlife can be observed up close even during the day, without fleeing in a panic.

Most hobby hunters today are anachronistic and, upon closer analysis, live by a mindset of pure violence. Hobby hunters are militant. From their perspective, they kill creatures they deem inferior, or hunt for trophies. The killing is congratulated and celebrated with primitive, sectarian rituals and alcohol.

In particular, the association JagdSchweiz cultivates above all disrespect and a culture of violence — the exact opposite of what a civilised person in our society should aspire to.

Unscientific theories

Hobby hunters like to model themselves on Stone Age humans and are receptive to unscientific theories, lies and wild fantasies. They repeatedly claim that hunting and meat consumption played a decisive role in human evolution. However, current science now knows that humans are primarily plant eaters and not carnivores.

In recent decades, meat consumption has risen to unimaginable heights, yet the human brain is not growing — it is shrinking! The evolutionarily driven growth of the human brain was far more likely connected to the discovery of fire.

That things can be done differently is demonstrated by Geneva

The canton of Geneva, which has been free of hobby hunters since 1974, does not have the self-made wildlife problems caused by unprofessional hobby hunters and self-serving hunting administrations. In 2011, for example, not a single red fox, marten, roe deer, red deer, badger, etc. was shot.

Irrefutable evidence for more Biodiversity are areas in which hunting has been banned, such as the extensive Gran Paradiso National Park in Italy (hunting-free since 1922). The size of wildlife populations and the damage caused by wildlife browsing are no greater in hunting-free areas than in areas where hunting takes place.

Modern knowledge in ecology and wildlife biology, as well as case studies, demonstrate that the population density of wild animals regulates itself dynamically based on food availability, territoriality, climate, disease, resources, and social and physiological factors without human intervention, provided it is not decimated by shooting. The hunting pressure increases reproduction rates of some affected animal populations.

Cultural landscape also means practising a culture of non-violence towards living beings. Hunting living beings is barbarity, just as sodomy, bullfighting, or war are.