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Education

Hobby hunting sect recruits children

Editorial Wild beim Wild — 25 November 2022

The hobby hunters' sect offshoot «NÖ Jagdverband» is targeting children with the «Wildes Revier» project, focusing on imparting knowledge about native wildlife and their habitats.

Virtual stalking for children

With «Wildes Revier», the NÖ Jagdverband, together with Josef Pröll, has launched a project that conveys knowledge about native fauna and flora, the hobby hunting craft, and appropriate behaviour in nature to children between the ages of 6 and 14 in a playful manner. Using a tablet, PC or smartboard, the children embark on a virtual journey of discovery through three typical hunting grounds and a hunting lodge, experiencing roe deer, chamois and otters in their natural habitats. After a one-year development phase, «Wildes Revier» was presented on 24 November 2022 at the Volksschule Zelking primary school, where pupils in years 3 and 4 set off on their first virtual stalk at wildesrevier.at.

Questionable recruitment strategy of the recreational hunters

Hobby hunters lure animal-loving children into their clutches under false pretences. Once in their grasp, they are subjected to brainwashing and turned into brutal killers of animals.

And if not their followers, then innocent wild animals must pay the price when the hobby hunters run amok. Hobby hunters turn wildlife into unnecessary victims. They spread fear and terror and make a great deal of noise in forests and fields.

Today's hunting menace avails itself of certain labels that are purely ideological in character. “Problem animal,” “predator,” “pest,” “breeding ground for disease,” “plague,” “invasion,” etc. are not biological criteria but serve to pass judgement and to devalue. A favoured and well-tested means of creating and maintaining enemy images. No doubt is left that animals one wishes to kill also “deserve” their death.

You can help all animals and our planet with compassion. Choose compassion on your plate and in your glass. Go vegan.
More on the topic of hobby hunting: In our dossier on hunting we compile fact-checks, analyses, and background reports.

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