As released by Dog Food Advisor at 07:45 PST today.
Blue Ridge Beef of Eatonton, Georgia, has announced it is voluntarily recalling one lot of its raw frozen pet food due to its potential to be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes bacteria.
To learn which products are affected, please visit the following link:
When one goes to that Blue Ridge web link this is what you will read:
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January 17, 2017 — Blue Ridge Beef of Eatonton, Georgia, has announced it is voluntarily recalling one lot of its Turkey with Bone raw frozen product due to its potential to be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes.
What’s Being Recalled?
The affected product is sold in 2 pound chubs and can be identified with the following manufacturing codes:
Blue Ridge Beef Turkey with Bone
Size: 2 pound chubs
UPC Code 854298001887
Lot #103 mfdga12716
About Listeria
Listeria can affect animals eating the product.
And there is a risk to humans from handling contaminated pet products, especially if they have not thoroughly washed their hands after having contact with the products or any surface exposed to these products.
Healthy people infected with Listeria monocytogenes should monitor themselves for some or all of the following symptoms: nausea, vomiting, diarrhea or bloody diarrhea, abdominal cramping and fever.
Consumers exhibiting these signs after having contact with this product should contact their healthcare provider.
Where Was It Distributed?
The affected products were distributed to retail stores in the following states:
Florida
Georgia
North Carolina
South Carolina
What Caused the Recall?
This recall was initiated as a result of an FDA inspection and sampling of the product. This recall is being made with the knowledge of the US Food and Drug Administration.
What to Do?
Consumers who have purchased the above lot of Blue Ridge Beef Turkey with Bone raw frozen product are urged to stop feeding the product and return it to the place of purchase for a full refund.
Or dispose of the affected product immediately.
Those with questions can email the company at blueridgebeefga@yahoo.com
U.S. citizens can report complaints about FDA-regulated pet food products by calling the consumer complaint coordinator in your area.
Then as soon as I started to write today’s post (as of yesterday afternoon) I realised the error in my sub-title. For one might argue that this does have a connection with how our dogs behave as a cohesive group. But I’m going to be ‘an arse’ (‘ass’ in American speak) and ask you to hold out until the end of today’s post to read the ‘doggie’ connection. (Note that today’s post is Part One. Part Two continues tomorrow.)
I am in the middle of reading American Gridlock written by H. Woody Brock and published in 2012. Here’s an extract of what the book is about, courtesy of Amazon:
A sensible solution to getting our economy back on track
Pessimism is ubiquitous throughout the Western World as the pressing issues of massive debt, high unemployment, and anemic economic growth divide the populace into warring political camps. Right-and Left-wing ideologues talk past each other, with neither side admitting the other has any good ideas. In American Gridlock, leading economist and political theorist H. Woody Brock bridges the Left/Right divide, illuminating a clear path out of our economic quagmire.
Arguing from first principles and with rigorous logic, Brock demonstrates that the choice before us is not between free market capitalism and a government-driven economy. Rather, the solution to our problems will require enactment of constructive policies that allow “true” capitalism to flourish even as they incorporate social policies that help those who truly need it.
Brock demonstrates how deductive logic (as opposed to ideologically driven data analysis) can transform the way we think about these problems and lead us to new and different solutions that cross the ideological divide. Drawing on new theories such as game theory and the economics of uncertainty that are based upon deductive logic, Brock reveals fresh ideas for tackling issues central to the 2012 U.S, Presidential election and to the nation’s long-run future:
It greatly influenced me and I sat down and wrote an essay. Mainly to clarify my own thinking ahead of a meeting last Saturday of our local Freethinkers Group where the topic was “Ideas for Improving our Democratic Processes”. The “our” being the US democratic process but just as valid for many other countries.
I first set out to see if there was a clear, unambiguous definition of what a democratic society is. Surprise, surprise there isn’t one. Very quickly I came up with three:
The first:
A democracy by definition is government through elected representatives. It is a form of society which favours equal rights, freedom of speech and a fair trial and tolerates the views of minorities. Civics and Citizenship website
The second:
A DEMOCRACY IS a society in which all adults have easily accessible, meaningful, and effective ways:
(a) to participate in the decision-making processes of every organization that makes decisions or takes actions that affect them, and;
(b) to hold other individuals, and those in these organizations who are responsible for making decisions and taking actions, fully accountable if their decisions or actions violate fundamental human rights, or are dishonest, unethical, unfair, secretive, inefficient, unrepresentative, unresponsive or irresponsible;
(c) so that all organizations in the society are citizen-owned, citizen-controlled, and citizen-driven, and all individuals and organizations are held accountable for wrongdoing. Democracy Watch website
And the third:
Better democracy, everywhere.
The Democratic Society (Demsoc) works for more and better democracy, where people and institutions have the desire, opportunity and confidence to participate together.
We work to create opportunities for people to become involved in the decisions that affect their lives and for them to have the skills to do this effectively. We support governments, parliaments and any organisation that wants to involve citizens in decision making to be transparent, open and welcoming of participation. We actively support spaces, places and processes to make this happen. Democratic Society website.
I went on to say in my essay:
Yes, there is some harmony between all three definitions but there are also significant differences in tone and language.
I am sure many of you are familiar with the book by H. Woody Brock American Gridlock. I started reading it a few days ago and cannot now put it down.
For the core message of the book is that we, as in society, must distinguish between inductive and deductive reasoning. Let me use the definitions as found on the Live Science website.
Deductive reasoning
Deductive reasoning is a basic form of valid reasoning. Deductive reasoning, or deduction, starts out with a general statement, or hypothesis, and examines the possibilities to reach a specific, logical conclusion, according to the University of California. The scientific method uses deduction to test hypotheses and theories. “In deductive inference, we hold a theory and based on it we make a prediction of its consequences. That is, we predict what the observations should be if the theory were correct. We go from the general — the theory — to the specific — the observations,” said Dr. Sylvia Wassertheil-Smoller, a researcher and professor emerita at Albert Einstein College of Medicine.
In deductive reasoning, if something is true of a class of things in general, it is also true for all members of that class. For example, “All men are mortal. Harold is a man. Therefore, Harold is mortal.” For deductive reasoning to be sound, the hypothesis must be correct. It is assumed that the premises, “All men are mortal” and “Harold is a man” are true. Therefore, the conclusion is logical and true.
That is, we predict what the observations should be if the theory were correct.”
Let that really work it’s way through your consciousness. It’s an idea that is rooted in the great scientists and philosophers of many thousands of years ago. Think of Euclid, the Greek Socratic philosopher who founded the Megarian school of philosophy. He was a pupil of Socrates in the late 5th century BCE, and was present at his death. (I cheated and looked it up.)
It was Euclid who through Euclidian geometry came to understand the principles of angles and straight lines; as in the shortest distance between two points.
Moving on:
Inductive reasoning
Inductive reasoning is the opposite of deductive reasoning. Inductive reasoning makes broad generalizations from specific observations. “In inductive inference, we go from the specific to the general. We make many observations, discern a pattern, make a generalization, and infer an explanation or a theory,” Wassertheil-Smoller told Live Science. “In science there is a constant interplay between inductive inference (based on observations) and deductive inference (based on theory), until we get closer and closer to the ‘truth,’ which we can only approach but not ascertain with complete certainty.”
Even if all of the premises are true in a statement, inductive reasoning allows for the conclusion to be false. Here’s an example: “Harold is a grandfather. Harold is bald. Therefore, all grandfathers are bald.” The conclusion does not follow logically from the statements.
Inductive reasoning has its place in the scientific method. Scientists use it to form hypotheses and theories. Deductive reasoning allows them to apply the theories to specific situations.
Now for some of you this side trip into reasoning may have seen more like a complete departure. But the point is that, as American Gridlock makes so powerfully: There are two main problems to be solved if this nation is to get back on track. First, win-win policy solutions must be identified for the five real-world problems addressed in Chapters 2 through 6. Second, the Dialogue of the Deaf must come to an end, policy gridlock with it, and these solutions must be implemented. (Pages 7-8)
I closed my essay by setting out the following proposition:
Until we have a clear, universally acknowledged definition of what a democratic society is then it is impossible and utterly futile to debate the various processes including what is the best process for American society.
Is this relevant to the world outside the USA? You bet it is. For better or for worse, what the USA does today the rest of the world does soon thereafter.
And as you will see in Part Two that comes tomorrow democratising the economy is key.
For when we look at the way that dogs, and wolves, operate as a pack in the wild there are only three animals with status:
The alpha female who has first choice of the male dogs for mating purposes and makes the decision, as and when necessary, to move her pack to a new territory,
The beta dog, always a male, whose role is to keep the pack running smoothly as a cohesive group and not letting squabbles get out of hand, and,
The omega dog, that can be of either gender, whose role is to keep the pack happy.
All the other animals in the pack of around fifty are of equal status and work for the benefit of the pack. Now that is something we should learn from dogs!
(This was first posted on December 8th, 2016. It is being republished because of the mention of peanut butter in the article presented in my post that came out an hour ago.)
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Keep peanut butter away from your dogs!
Because it could kill your beloved companion.
Fellow author Judi Holdeman sent me an email that contained a warning that had been in a recent health newsletter from Jeff Reagan. Here’s the essence of that warning (and my emphasis in parts):
If your dog is anything like my dog, they probably love a good scoop of peanut butter.
As I’m writing this, my pup Ellie is actually snuggled up next to my leg and going to town on her peanut butter filled Kong. She’s in heaven…
But I want to warn you about a NEW problem with dogs and peanut butter.
There’s been a number of reports lately of dogs who are winding up dead because of their beloved peanut butter.
How is this happening?
It has to do with a new ingredient being used in certain peanut butters.
That ingredient is xylitol.
Xylitol is an artificial sweetener that you’ll recognize from things like gum and candy.
And while it’s generally “safe” for humans to eat, it can be deadly for dogs. Just a small amount of it can cause severe liver damage and can even kill your dog.
From my research, I’ve found 5 brands of peanut butter that have recently added xylitol to their ingredients. I’m listing these brands below…
– Go Nuts Co
– Hank’s Protein Plus Peanut Butter
– Krush Nutrition
– Nuts N More
– P28
Now luckily most of these are NOT the most popular brands.
These brands are usually sold at specialty shops or health food stores.
But I still wanted to alert you to this…
Because if your dog is anything like mine, they probably love peanut butter.
So make sure you’re staying away from the brands I listed above.
And double-check the label on your peanut butter to make sure it doesn’t have xylitol in it.
Feel free to forward this email on to your friends or family that have dogs so they are aware of this…
– Jeff Reagan. Editor, Patriot Health Alliance
Please, good people, do share this as far and wide as possible.
For both humans and, in consequence, for those dogs close to us.
Effectively, the whole of the New Year has been a tad challenging here in Merlin, OR. For even before the snows arrived early on in January, leading to power outages and frozen pipes, the local weather service was warning of unusually severe storms. Indeed, more than once we have heard locals speaking of this looking like a one-hundred-year-storm.
So it was inevitable that there were some anxious periods. Plus the challenging weather may not be not fully behind us. For this is the current (Sunday 18:00 PST) weather warning:
HYDROLOGIC OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MEDFORD, OR
134 PM PST SUN JAN 15 2017
…Flood Potential Outlook for main stem river flooding, snow melt flooding, and quick rises on rivers and streams in the following counties…in California…Siskiyou…and in Oregon…Coos… Curry…Douglas…Jackson…Josephine…
A strong atmospheric river event is expected to arrive in Southern Oregon and Northern California by Wednesday. While models have trended towards a faster progression of the front, and therefore lesser rainfall amounts, this event may still produce high snow levels, periods of heavy rain, and significant melting of lower level snow-pack Wednesday and into Thursday. With the extensive snow-pack, saturated soils and high river levels, there is a potential for flooding and rapid rises along main stem rivers and small creeks and streams. Urban areas may also experience high water from blocked culverts and runoff.
Continue to monitor forecasts for any updates as this potentially hazardous situation develops.
Anyone who has a dog (or several) in their lives will know how our anxiety is so quickly picked up by our dogs. Ergo, looking after our dogs, as in keeping them relaxed, is really important.
Now read this article that was published over on the Care2 site. I am republishing here for all you good people.
Does your dog suffer from anxiety? A lot of rescued dogs do, and often we don’t know the exact cause for their nervousness. Abuse, neglect or even a single bad experience before you adopted your dog could cause mild to debilitating anxiety. These natural remedies for dog anxiety have worked wonders for my very anxious dog.
We adopted my dog, Jenna, two years ago. Jenna was three years old when we rescued her, and her story still breaks my heart. Lifeline Animal Project rescued Jenna from an animal hoarder when she was six months old. For those first six months, she lived in a crate 24/7. They didn’t even take her out to pee and poop, they just changed the newspaper or laid new paper down. Jenna lived in Lifeline’s no-kill shelter for two and a half years before she was socialized enough to be adoptable.
Even after those years of care, Jenna was still incredibly fearful when we got her home. For the first 36 hours that we had her, she didn’t pee or poop at all. She basically sat on her bed, shaking. By the end of second day we could get her to eat and use the bathroom, but it took weeks for her to finally trust us.
We’ve had Jenna for two years now, and she is a completely different dog. She is still wary of strangers and has her nervous moments, but she loves to run and play. She’s even warmed up to family and friends who visit us often. Jenna is always going to have a high base level of anxiety, but thanks to the natural remedies I’m going to get into below, she also can relax and behave like a normal dog the vast majority of the time.
Look at this mellow, happy gal!
Natural Remedies for Dog Anxiety
Every dog’s situation is different, so what worked for Jenna may not work for your dog. If one of these natural remedies isn’t doing it for your nervous dog, try another one! This is a laundry list of everything that’s worked and one thing that didn’t work for us but does for too many other dog owners to leave out of the list. Pick and choose natural remedies as you find out what helps with your dog’s anxiety.
1. Obedience Training
I can’t recommend a good trainer enough. Training gives your anxious dog confidence, and a good trainer can help you with commands that are especially important. I’ve been taking Jenna to training on and off the entire time that we’ve had her, and it has been a miracle for us. It took a few months for us to start seeing results, so don’t expect a quick fix from this. The long-term benefits for you and your dog are well worth it.
2. Exercise
Getting exercise with your dog is a bonding experience, and it also helps her work off some of that nervous energy. Jenna and I run 9-15 miles a week together, when I can swing it, and she loves to run more than anything else. We had to stop running towards the end of my pregnancy, and on that first run back, she had a huge puppy grin on the whole time we were out.
Running is just one way to get your dog exercise. You can go for walks, play catch, or play training games like “touch.” Whatever you choose to do, talk to your vet first. Some breeds of dog are great runners, but others (like pugs) can overheat easily and need lower-key exercise.
3. Essential Oils
One fear that Jenna is definitely not over is thunderstorms. She shuts down during storms, which can be rough during spring and summer when it storms frequently here in Atlanta. Essential oils combined with Rescue Remedy (more on that below) have helped her out a lot. Choose a calming scent like lavender, and just put a couple of drops onto the dog’s collar. Putting it on the collar is key, because then your dog can smell the soothing oil but can’t eat it.
4. Rescue Remedy
Rescue Remedy is a blend of flower extracts, and they make blends for pets and for humans. We use the liquid for pets and feed it to her in a lump of peanut butter. (**** See my Footnote below) It calms her down considerably. Though, to be honest, I do wonder if getting her favorite treat (peanut butter) has something to do with it. You can find Rescue Remedy at natural food stores or online.
5. Focus Toys
Redirecting your dog’s attention when she’s feeling anxious can be a big help. You can try using commands that you learned in training class, or you can give your dog a focus toy. There are all varieties of these. You can go with a rawhide bone or one of those puzzle toys that dispenses treats when the dog gets it right. Jenna’s favorite toy is a Nylabone. She’s a 50 pound lab mix, so she tears through a rawhide in minutes. She’s had the same Nylabone for months, and it’s still pretty much intact.
6. Watching Your Tone
When your dog is scared, how do you react? Do you say, “It’s OK, sweetie!” in a higher-pitched voice than usual? This is a normal reaction, but it’s actually not the best one when your dog is scared. If your dog sees you as the alpha in the pack, she’s going to take her cues from you, and that kind of attention rewards your dog’s fear, reinforcing it.
Next time your dog is scared, try to react as if everything is normal. You can put a hand on her back, so she knows that you’re there, but try not to make a big deal out of the situation. Don’t say “It’s OK.” Instead, show her that everything is OK with your body language.
7. Crate Training
We were lucky that Jenna was crate trained when we adopted her. For an anxious dog, the crate can be a “safe place” they can retreat to. When there’s a thunderstorm or our neighbors decide to shoot off fireworks, Jenna often curls up in her crate. Dogs like a small, cozy space. If you’re not into crate training, I’d suggest setting up a dog bed in a quiet corner or even under an end table, so your dog has a cozy place that’s hers where she can go when she is scared.
8. The Thunder Shirt
This is the one natural remedy on this list that has not worked for us at all. Jenna is more afraid of the Thunder Shirt than she is of thunder! We are definitely outliers here, though. Every dog owner I know that has an anxious dog recommends the Thunder Shirt to me when I mention Jenna’s fear of storms. This is a great example of how different natural remedies work for some dogs and not others. The Thunder Shirt is definitely worth a shot! If it doesn’t work for you, you can pass it on to a fellow dog owner or donate it to your local shelter.
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Footnote!
Regarding feeding dogs peanut butter, do not, repeat not, do this until you are sure that the brand of peanut butter you are considering is free of the ingredient xylitol.
I wrote of the dangers of xylitol in a post last December 8th. It is being republished in an hour’s time just to make sure the widest number of readers of this place are aware of the danger.
Anyway, this seemed like a very useful article. Plus there’s another benefit of having one’s loved dogs in a relaxed state. It helps the people around those dogs remain relaxed as well!
Brandy and Jean enjoying mutual relaxation!
Chill out everyone! Both the two-legged and the four-legged ones!
During the heavy rains this last week we had an oak tree come down in front of the house. Luckily not doing any collateral damage.
But cutting it up into rounds and then splitting them ready for the wood tent took up most of yesterday (and Michael and Stanley many thanks for your help).
For today’s post I wanted to share two photographs with you. Two very different views of the world as seen from our property.
The first photograph above is of Bummer Creek that runs through our property. The view is upstream and the picture was taken last Sunday from our driveway bridge that crosses the creek. The flood waters were as high as we have ever seen them.
Please accept the slight fuzziness of the second photograph. But it is a shot of the full moon just as it appeared above the line of hills to the North-East. I dashed out to our deck and took the shot. Moments later the moon had been hidden by clouds. This was Thursday evening.
The picture doesn’t even get close to recording the magic of the dark night sky, stars shining so brightly, and the glorious full moon. Apparently a moon in orbit closer to planet Earth than is usual.
Nonetheless, the two photographs represent two very different and contrasting faces of our natural world.
We are on course for a warm, sunny day. We were starting to wonder what they felt like!
But there’s never any question what the love of a dog feels like!
I am now going to follow this image up with a video made in England by Sophie Hannah Richardson recording her experience of welcoming to her home a new puppy.
Enjoy (and please read my footnote!).
Say hello to Luna the french bulldog everyone! How cute is she?!
We’ve had our little Luna just over a month now and we absolutely adore her. She’s playful, loving and very sociable! And she’s slowly learning to love the camera!
Footnote: In the last couple of days the number of good people who are following this blog has gone over 2,000. I am truly lost for words and will just leave it like this: Thank you from the bottom of my heart!
TIMOTHY BULLARD/Daily Courier Paul Handover with Pharaoh, a 12year-old German Shepard that he uses on the cover of his new book about man’s best friend.
That is the language of love spoken by our beautiful dogs.
The present unreliability of our internet connection prompted me to think about re-posting whatever I had posted exactly a year ago. It only took me a minute to look it up and, bingo, what a perfect topic for these wintry days.
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As our dear dogs speak it.
You will recall that last Friday I featured an item under the title of Private First Class Lingo. The item had been brought to my attention by Constance Frankland.
Well here’s another really special story that Constance came across on a website called Arditor and I wanted to share it with you.
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The Language of Love
8 Ways Your Dog is Saying “I Love You“
Although dogs don’t speak our language, they are constantly trying to tell us that they love us and always showing love through their actions. Unfortunately, many shrug their shoulders or get annoyed over their dogs’ love gestures.
Here are 8 ways your dog is saying “I love you”…
Tail Wagging
Similar to a cat, a dog’s tail is a communication tool. In fact it is sometimes more accurate in translating its emotions than barking. Held at different positions, a dog’s wag could communicate excitement, fear, threat or submission. If your dog’s tail is held in a relaxed position and wagging all together with its entire butt, it means it is very happy to see you.
Face Licking
Warm, sticky, wet and stinky! We know this can get annoying but licking a person’s face is a love gesture from a dog. Dogs lick faces for a few reasons. Mainly, if your pet dog is licking your face, he is trying to groom you! Grooming is an intimate gesture only done after a strong connection is made between dogs (so now you know he sees you as one of his kind). On the other hand, if a stranger dog licks your face, it is simply trying to say that he is harmless and friendly.
Following You Wherever You Go
This is another behaviour that can get on your nerves, especially when your dog attempts to follow you to work! However, it is only a dog’s way to show his love, devotion and loyalty to you. Wherever you are, that is where your dog wants to be. Dogs are extreme social creatures and unlike humans, there is no need for solitude.
Sleeping with You
Similar to wild wolve packs, wild dogs curl up together to sleep in the night. Rather than sleeping alone in his designated corner, your dog prefers to snuggle right next to you in your bed. If you catch your dog sneaking onto your bed or falling asleep next to you in your couch, it implies that you are his family.
Smiling
It is no surprise when you see something like a smile on your dog. Dogs do smile too! Research has found that dogs can also show and use facial expressions similar to how humans do. A dog’s smile is another way of showing his love and joy to his owner. Having said that, most of us are guilty of not recognizing our dog’s smile.
Crotch Sniffing
Argh, this is an embarrassing one and how we wished our dogs can quit going around sniffing crotches. But before you start screaming at your dog, try to understand it. This behaviour is in fact a dog’s perculiar way of greeting. More importantly, apart from a hello, it allows the dog to understand and remember you through your scent.
Taking Care of You When You are Sick
Does your dog stay by your bed and watch you the whole time while you are nursing a flu? This is its natural instinct to care for a sick or wounded family member, just as they would in the wild. A dog extends its love and care to its sick or injured owner by quietly and patiently watching over him/her. But make sure you hide any superficial wounds away from your dog! It might actually lick your wound as its form of first aid.
Leaning on You
Whether you are sitting or standing, your dog is leaning on you and wouldn’t budge. You can’t move and you can’t get on with your daily routine. While you are wondering what they are up to, your dog has already got what they needed: your attention. Getting your attention and giving you their attention by leaning on you is their way of showing affection. Next time this happens, stop what you are doing and reciprocate with some love.
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This turned out to be more of a Sunday Picture Parade but it seemed too special to hold it from you until the weekend.
No, our dogs don’t speak a language that we humans would recognise as such but, nonetheless, our dogs communicate in ways that still are as magical and special as our human poetry.
Speaking of poetry, let me close today’s post with this.
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Wherever you are in the world, with or without a dog in your life, please embrace the power of love.
The philosophy of hunting in terms of it being ‘right’ or ‘wrong’.
Anyone who comes here for more than a couple of visits will know that both Jean and I are opposed to hunting completely. Period!
That’s not surprising as there have been a number of posts over the years describing how we feed the wild deer. Here’s three more photographs that haven’t previously been shared with you.
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But, of course, the opinions of Jean and me are not, and should not be, the rule for the wider population of this part of Oregon.
All I would ask is that there is a proper, mature discussion as to the pros and cons of hunting wild animals in this, the twenty-first century.
Every year as daylight dwindles and trees go bare, debates arise over the morality of hunting. Hunters see the act of stalking and killing deer, ducks, moose and other quarry as humane, necessary and natural, and thus as ethical. Critics respond that hunting is a cruel and useless act that one should be ashamed to carry out.
As a nonhunter, I cannot say anything about what it feels like to shoot or trap an animal. But as a student of philosophy and ethics, I think philosophy can help us clarify, systematize and evaluate the arguments on both sides. And a better sense of the arguments can help us talk to people with whom we disagree.
Therapeutic hunting involves intentionally killing wild animals in order to conserve another species or an entire ecosystem. In one example, Project Isabella, conservation groups hired marksmen to eradicate thousands of feral goats from several Galapagos islands between 1997 and 2006. The goats were overgrazing the islands, threatening the survival of endangered Galapagos tortoises and other species.
Subsistence hunting is intentionally killing wild animals to supply nourishment and material resources for humans. Agreements that allow Native American tribes to hunt whales are justified, in part, by the subsistence value the animals have for the people who hunt them.
Crawford Patkotak, center, leads a prayer after his crew landed a bowhead whale near Barrow, Alaska. Both revered and hunted by the Inupiat, the bowhead whale serves a symbol of tradition, as well as a staple of food. AP Photo/Gregory Bull
In contrast, sport hunting refers to intentionally killing wild animals for enjoyment or fulfillment. Hunters who go after deer because they find the experience exhilarating, or because they want antlers to mount on the wall, are sport hunters.
These categories are not mutually exclusive. A hunter who stalks deer because he or she enjoys the experience and wants decorative antlers may also intend to consume the meat, make pants from the hide and help control local deer populations. The distinctions matter because objections to hunting can change depending on the type of hunting.
What bothers people about hunting: Harm, necessity and character
Critics often argue that hunting is immoral because it requires intentionally inflicting harm on innocent creatures. Even people who are not comfortable extending legal rights to beasts should acknowledge that many animals are sentient – that is, they have the capacity to suffer. If it is wrong to inflict unwanted pain and death on a sentient being, then it is wrong to hunt. I call this position “the objection from harm.”
If sound, the objection from harm would require advocates to oppose all three types of hunting, unless it can be shown that greater harm will befall the animal in question if it is not hunted – for example, if it will be doomed to slow winter starvation. Whether a hunter’s goal is a healthy ecosystem, a nutritious dinner or a personally fulfilling experience, the hunted animal experiences the same harm.
But if inflicting unwanted harm is necessarily wrong, then the source of the harm is irrelevant. Logically, anyone who commits to this position should also oppose predation among animals. When a lion kills a gazelle, it causes as much unwanted harm to the gazelle as any hunter would – far more, in fact.
Lions attack a water buffalo in Tanzania. Oliver Dodd/Wikipedia, CC BY
Few people are willing to go this far. Instead, many critics propose what I call the “objection from unnecessary harm”: it is bad when a hunter shoots a lion, but not when a lion mauls a gazelle, because the lion needs to kill to survive.
Today it is hard to argue that human hunting is strictly necessary in the same way that hunting is necessary for animals. The objection from necessary harm holds that hunting is morally permissible only if it is necessary for the hunter’s survival. “Necessary” could refer to nutritional or ecological need, which would provide moral cover for subsistence and therapeutic hunting. But sport hunting, almost by definition, cannot be defended this way.
Sport hunting also is vulnerable to another critique that I call “the objection from character.” This argument holds that an act is contemptible not only because of the harm it produces, but because of what it reveals about the actor. Many observers find the derivation of pleasure from hunting to be morally repugnant.
In 2015, American dentist Walter Palmer found this out after his African trophy hunt resulted in the death of Cecil the lion. Killing Cecil did no significant ecological damage, and even without human intervention, only one in eight male lions survives to adulthood. It would seem that disgust with Palmer was at least as much a reaction to the person he was perceived to be – someone who pays money to kill majestic creatures – as to the harm he had done.
The hunters I know don’t put much stock in “the objection from character.” First, they point out that one can kill without having hunted and hunt without having killed. Indeed, some unlucky hunters go season after season without taking an animal. Second, they tell me that when a kill does occur, they feel a somber union with and respect for the natural world, not pleasure. Nonetheless, on some level the sport hunter enjoys the experience, and this is the heart of the objection.
Is hunting natural?
In discussions about the morality of hunting, someone inevitably asserts that hunting is a natural activity since all preindustrial human societies engage in it to some degree, and therefore hunting can’t be immoral. But the concept of naturalness is unhelpful and ultimately irrelevant.
A very old moral idea, dating back to the Stoics of ancient Greece, urges us to strive to live in accordance with nature and do that which is natural. Belief in a connection between goodness and naturalness persists today in our use of the word “natural” to market products and lifestyles – often in highly misleading ways. Things that are natural are supposed to be good for us, but also morally good.
Setting aside the challenge of defining “nature” and “natural,” it is dangerous to assume that a thing is virtuous or morally permissible just because it is natural. HIV, earthquakes, Alzheimer’s disease and post-partum depression are all natural. And as The Onion has satirically noted, behaviors including rape, infanticide and the policy of might-makes-right are all present in the natural world.
Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Alberta, Canada, commemorates a place where indigenous peoples of the North American Plains killed buffalo for more than 6,000 years by driving them over a cliff.
Hard conversations
There are many other moral questions associated with hunting. Does it matter whether hunters use bullets, arrows or snares? Is preserving a cultural tradition enough to justify hunting? And is it possible to oppose hunting while still eating farm-raised meat?
As a starting point, though, if you find yourself having one of these debates, first identify what kind of hunting you’re discussing. If your interlocutor objects to hunting, try to discover the basis for their objection. And I believe you should keep nature out of it.
Finally, try to argue with someone who takes a fundamentally different view. Confirmation bias – the unintentional act of confirming the beliefs we already have – is hard to overcome. The only antidote I know of is rational discourse with people whose confirmation bias runs contrary to my own.
ooOOoo
This is a very important essay from Joshua. Well done, that man!
I will just leave you all with this further image.
Two young stags keeping it together. (Taken here at home in July, 2016.)
Best wishes to each of you; irrespective of your view on hunting!
The affected product is sold in 2 pound chubs and can be identified with the following manufacturing codes:
Learning from Dogs 