DigitalDuality said:
hunting is a multifaceted discussion.
Many do utilize much of the animal. They eat every part they can making burgers, steaks, etc.. making jerky out of the rest. Some go as far as making leather. I don't want to hear anyone's morality about this as factory farming is far more horrendous than mere hunters. Yet everyone gets their factory farmed chicken, beef, pork, turkey, etc.. on a weekly if not daily basis. And yes, many hunters are huge conservationists.
Some do for sport.. and that .. imo is just as wrong. BUT, even for sport sometimes can have a positive impact. Human development in many areas completely throws off the balance of that previous ecosystem. Deer, or other animals, lose their natural predators and become far over populated. Over populated species can decimate other species, be it plant life or other species that depend on the same food source. So while i don't approve of sport hunting it's not so black and white. Sometimes sport hunting can preserve other species and keep overpopulation down for animals that have lost their natural predators.
Dogs on the other hand, have very little wild instict left in them. most could not survive in the wild. They have been domesticated and for the most part depend on human beings for proper care. We as a species have done this to them, for better or for worse. And to use them for deadly fights for entertainment is utterly disgusting, wrong, immoral, and illegal.
And you can continue on with your fallible PETA accusations all you want. I doubt anyone in this thread is a vegan or vegetarian. I do believe most of us do not agree with the pointless slaughter of animals, especially for only entertainment... and especially with no positive impact on the ecosystem as the beings are no longer part of any ecosystem whatsoever.
Culture be damned, it is wrong and it is cruel. No one is benefitting anything from it. Absolutely nothing. Same for bullfighting and cockfights.
if u read my posts in this thread, you would see i am also *personally* against dog fighting...however i do not believe that my opinion is the only one that can be correct. lots of things i may find to be acceptable or even enjoyable are thought of as barbaric, cruel, and violent on a daily basis.
to ruin your severe lack of an argument some more, first, i had already pointed out that there is a large portion of hunters who do so for the correct reasons even if it IS partially sport for them as they utilize the animals very efficiently as u mentioned. in fact, my uncle taught me that if were to EVER kill/shoot an animal, i should also be prepared to slice and dice it up, clean, and eat the animal as well as making use of any other parts with potential uses. i live by that rule, and since i personally cringe at gutting an animal unless it was a survival situation, i have never hunted or killed anything above insects in my house. anyways sorry to get off topic i was just sharing some personal details so that you can see i am truly looking at this objectively.
back to the point, we do NOT persecute people for hunting purely for sport even if the animals numbers require them to be thinned out for both humans and animals alike. to me, there is NO difference between shooting a deer purely for "sport"(no reason other than testing ur shooting/tracking skills) & dogs dieing for "sport" in competitive dog fighting(no reason other than testing ur training skills/dogs fight skills).
if u cannot see the lack of difference in these two scenarios u are not looking at this objectively because u are placing more weight on an animal's life because it was simply deemed "cute and furry" BY YOUR PARTICULAR CULTURE.
some cultures dislike dogs. some cultures like cats. some cultures WORSHIP cattle yet we inhumanely kill them in droves for food purposes.
please look at this and truly realize why the only reason vick should be getting criticized is for breaking a KNOWN law in the country he resides in...no excuse for not accepting responsibility when the law comes knocking.
just like i do illicit drugs, namely marijuana....i do not believe it should be illegal but it is, and because of that, i realize AND accept that if i were to get caught i will have to accept the punishment for breaking said law.
to further disprove ur "argument", you basically imply that there is a difference in thinning populations of deer versus thinning populations of dogs. sure dogs arent usually in the wild, but strays/overpopulation via over-reproduction in canines sends tons and tons of innocent dogs to their death every day. why do we as humans(mostly americans), believe its somehow OK to shoot a deer with a gun to kill it when necessary(even if its not for food purposes as u pointed out) but we MUST euthanize dogs "humanely" when its their turn? why because *OUR* culture puts more value on the life of one species of mammal over another?
why is OK to slaughter cows for food, but if i were to USE THE EXACT SAME METHODS to slaughter dogs for food, heck any purpose, there would be an uproar....why is this, once again....*drum roll* duh-da-duhhh ya got it this time: we *personally* as wester culture, feel that certain animals are more valuable in every since that others even if they both are furry, four legged, and have a tail! tell this to a hindu who find cattle to be sacred. is our culture truly the only correct way of doing any-and-everything?