Sportsmen(?) v wildlife

If a fox gets into a chicken coupe it will not kill just one bird for food it will kill them all, I call that sport.

Not sport at all, in the wild the chickens would flee and the fox would not kill them all, but there is nowhere for them to run. If left alone it would hide the dead chickens and return when times are hard.

We go supermarket shopping, but we purchase more food than we can eat in one sitting. We tidy the food away in cupboards, fridges and freezers just like the fox would bury the carcases if allowed.

Humans have presented the fox something that is unnatural in its environment, its moving with the times..

+1  Metheven

Fact, there are increasing numbers of cormorants now seen on inland waterways where in the past few or none have been recorded in the past. 

Suggestion, human activity has somehow forced these birds from their natural foraging places into areas where they now come into conflict with us.

Question, is killing them because we have possibly caused the problem the correct solution?

In a 'natural' environment, do cormorants actually kill that many fish that it does not eat?

I've just returned from Greenland and, whilst most are horrified at the thought of killing a whale, at least the native Inuit did it for food and utilised every last bit of the animal. Most of us are far more wasteful in our impact on nature.

I see no problem with the Inuit carrying out this practise for food given that Minkie whales are not endangered. Similarly I see no problem with guga hunting in Scotland. Both communities do so out of tradition and eat the meat.

I guess it might not be so bad if the cormorants being shot were being eaten too by those that shoot them. But to kill them just because we humans have driven them to places which we would rather they not be doesn't sit right with many folk.

. I don't believe in killing animals unless it's for the table. Grouse Partridge and Pheasant are absolutely delicious. , Roe, Fallow and Red Deer are also delicious.   Death is quick in the hands of an experienced keeper.

Unless somebody is a Proper Vegan, they need not be so high and mighty about the killing of animals. Ever been to a slaughterhouse or sailed on a commercial fishing vessel.--- There you see real animal cruelty. ---Those poor farm animals are absolutely petrified as the wait their turn to be slaughtered.--- The fish when netted and dragged into the boat suffocate to death for a good number of minutes.---  Think of that when next you have meat or fish. 

K 

Totally agree there K. As a game fisherman and a nature lover I only take for my table and then only from stocked or sustainable waters. A few years ago we watched in awe at a local fishing venue when a passing osprey exhibited far better skills than all we anglers, total respect. An absolutely fabulous experience which will remain in my memory for my entire life. 

You know as well as I do K what truly goes on in terms of shoots on game bird estates. Pheasants are reared artificially, and released in vast numbers at a very young age, slaughtered on our roads because they are just so naive about traffic, provide easy meat for other predators, but still abound in huge numbers as easy targets for rich folks to blast at and kill in huge quantities, far beyond anything required for the pot! And what about all the illegal trapping of raptors, killing of hares etc.... on grouse Moors? All to protect a huge industry based on annual slaughter. I know because I have BIL who regularly beats and shoots. I went to college and lived on an estate that was all about hunting, shooting and fishing and saw it daily. 

You try taking a dog on a lead onto Devonshire Estates up at Bolton Abbey. It will be crawling with red socked gun toting bla blah’s before you could say “heel”. Same with the rod and reel brigade it’s either pay big money to catch the odd trout, or play in and out with the same poor fish in a lake.

I have no problem with any culture that truly hunts to survive, but those that  do it for the sheer fun of mindless killing are something else. 

My biggest grouse, pardon the pun, are those that continue to spray the countryside, wherever it be, with toxic lead. Unforgivable in my opinion.

As per earlier comments on this thread. Sadly Cormorants cause serious injury and disturbance to fish, people who eat farmed fish, which has proved to be a sustainable way of providing food for large populations need to understand the reality. Anglers who fish rivers, where fish are put back observe the damage done to fish, it is a real problem. In a similar way that mink and other animals can upset the balance of nature.

Today I ate some free pheasant shot locally, I'd rather eat a local pheasant than a factory farmed chicken.