Does Hunting Help Or Hurt The Environment

Hunting has been a tradition for many years. There are both pros and cons of hunting. There are several actions that you can do right and wrong to keep the environment healthy when you are hunting. Hunting is still very controversial and whether it is supported or not depends on who you ask.

People against hunting think it will kill out a species, assume hunters kill animals for no reason or to show off, and some are against it because they are vegetarians and think that there is no point to killing animals. People for hunting think it helps keep animal populations down, it provides a good food source, and has been a part of people 's survival and livelihood since the beginning of time. No matter what side you are on, almost everyone agrees

Government regulates hunting to control certain animal populations by setting hunting seasons, creating limits, and monitoring hunting efforts and animal populations. “In that case, hunting is good for the environment because the hunting community ensures that wildlife populations of game species are sustainable from one generation to the next. This requires that a diversity of natural habitats be kept intact, unpolluted, and undisturbed. Hunters support all these efforts” ("Why is Hunting Good for the Environment?"). Hunting has a great impact on the food chain because it keeps each level in the food chain under control. “During the 1980s the deer population exploded and exceeded the refuge 's carrying capacity by ten fold. Without predators checking deer population, the entire Mason Neck ecosystem was distorted to the eagle 's peril. Starving deer consumed entire generations of young trees -- essentially destroying future bald eagle roosts. And the deer weren 't faring so well either. Only disease and starvation regulated their population” (“Hunters Play an Active Role in Protecting the Environment”). A deer hunting season was started and the deer and bald eagle

Hunting is also bad for the environment in many ways. Over hunting is bad for the environment because it can make the species go extinct. In the past, humans had over hunted or they have hunted for sport and wiped out many animals. “Trophy hunters, however, who kill purely for the sake of acquiring prestigious evidence that they have killed an animal, surely act immorally, because they achieve a trivial benefit for themselves at the expense of the life of an animal” (“Environmental Ethics and Trophy Hunting- Ethics & the Environment”). This happened in Africa when elephants were hunted as a trophy for ivory tusks that were worth a lot of money and the elephant population was almost extinct. If a species goes extinct, it will affect the entire food chain. Species that rely on that animal for food may die from starvation or the population will grow too much because they are not preyed on. Hunters that are not registered with a license and that kill animals and poach them are very dangerous to the environment. An unlicensed hunter is usually a hunter that has not taken the training. They might trap or hunt without considering the life or safety of other people by firing a gun in a no shooting area or by leaving a trap behind that wounds a person. Unlicensed hunters might also not understand that there are bag limits that restrict the kind and number of animals that can be hunted in a day or season. This can hurt the animal populations. Inexperienced hunters may