An Unethical Activity
Nowadays, hunting has seized to be a necessity – it is a recreational activity that consists in tracking and killing animals.
This activity is being perpetrated despite the fact that animals have a nervous system and are sentient: they feel, they have emotions and create bonds, they are conscious of their subjective experiences.
Hunting is by essence an aggression, and the sole purpose is to kill. It implies a total negation of the sensitive character of animals.
Hence, letting a minority of individuals inflict suffering and death for pleasure cannot be tolerated in our contemporary societies. Being a society bearing values of solidarity, benevolence, non-violence and the respect for life is not compatible with allowing hunting to take place.
A pastime that consist in killing sentient beings does not befit the evolution of our society.
Significant ecological damages
Hunting is responsible for significant ecological damages, which are reported by nature associations and scientists on a regular basis.
It has a quantitative impact on fauna through the self-evident fact that hunters kill individuals, but also through the disturbances their activities cause. Each year in France, about 40 million animals are killed by hunters and over the course of a weekend, 300,000 birds are killed, which equates to the number of victims during the infamous Erika oil spill. The disturbance caused by hunters has the adverse effects of decreasing populations of certain species due to the modification of the geographical distribution of species (particularly noticeable among water birds), the generation of a decrease in survival due to the individuals’ energy loss (less time to rest and feed, more time required for surveillance and fleeing) and the decrease in breeding success.
By modifying the behaviours and state of health of huntable species, hunting also has a qualitative impact on fauna. Scientists have observed that hunting automatically produces animals that are stressed and afraid and who run away at the slightest approach. These animals are very sensitive to disturbances and form a very fragile population, which is demographically weak. The use of lead cartridges has caused lead poisoning and a disease called « saturnisme », affecting over 60% of certain duck species. The numbers of most huntable species are decreasing, hence, hunters release each year about twenty million bred animals (partridge, pheasant, hare, duck…), so as to be able to continue practicing their activity. The releases of these animals are absolutely disastrous, as they weaken the remaining natural populations through diseases brought by these domesticated animals having been fed antibiotics. In the end, releases disrupts the ecosystem and cause severe genetic pollution to fauna. This also demonstrates that hunters do not need to regulate populations.
A Source of Disturbance and Insecurity
Although hunters are a minority (1.7% of French citizens), they monopolise natural areas and create insecurity.
They hinder and even prevent the practice of other outdoor activities, as walkers, horse riders, mountain bikers, joggers, mushroom pickers cannot go perform their activity, when surrounded by armed individuals. It is also a well-known fact that hunters are generally aggressive towards people trudging in natural spaces, while they are practicing their activity, as they inherently believe that these areas belong to them and that these people will make animals run away (and save their lives). In a way, they are right, these areas belong to them, as in France hunters can hunt everywhere and land owners actually have to declare their lands non-huntable, otherwise these are automatically considered hunting grounds.
A majority of people are more than hesitant, when the general hunting season opens, to go take a walk in nature, fearing to be the victim of a stray bullet, which has even happened in private gardens or while sitting in a moving car and have a bullet lodge itself in the headrest or the door. Each year, about 180 people are either wounded or killed, which is the equivalent of more than one person per day during the hunting season.
Hunting is the only leisure activity that frequently wounds and kills people, who are neither practicing nor attending.
Contradicting the values of our society
Hunting must be abolished as it is out of step with the values of our contemporary society, which advocates benevolence, solidarity, nonviolence and the respect for life. An activity, which consists in killing individuals, and negating their sentience and sensitivity, cannot be tolerated.
In France, hunters account for 1.7% of the population, and despite their small numbers they monopolise natural spaces and make them unsafe for the rest of French citizens representing 98,3% of the population. Since hunting is possible all year long and does not limit itself to the « hunting season », it has become very difficult and dangerous for people to enjoy natural spaces, let alone live in rural areas. Every year, about 150 people are wounded and 10 to 20 are killed during what is called a hunting accident.
We are advocating for the definitive end of hunting and for the management of natural spaces to be placed in the hands of a public organism with no conflict of interests. The CoRAC offers detailed solutions for the creation of a new model of society without hunting. Hunting is not necessary stricto sensu, so it would seem easy enough to simply go without it. However, a clear plan of action is paramount to preparing all the different actors and stakeholders involved in activities linked with natural spaces (farmers, foresters, breeders, gardeners, owners of farmyards, designers and those responsible for communication routes), the latter which could suffer from damages caused by the presence of wildlife. Thusly, we need a well-orchestrated transition phase, so as to prevent people during this time period from turning back to hunters in the case of damages.
At the end of the day, it needs to be realised that allowing hunting to continue only contributes to increasing and generating issues. In actuality, hunters present themselves as the solution to the problems they cause and/or amplify.
Thusly, we have identified the majority of interactions arising between wildlife and human activities, and have made recommendations for each of them. The aim is to enable human activities and wildlife to coexist peacefully and in harmony. The detail of these solutions is to be found in our booklet « Pour une France sans Chasse », which can be downloaded for free from our « Documents » page.
In the near future, a pastime that consists in killing animals will seem like atrocities committed by less morally advanced generations, as is the case for so many topics, when looking back at history. The abolishment of hunting is the inevitable moral progress of the human race.
CoRAC 