Animal groups' criticism bounces off hunters who feed hungry
By Courtland Milloy
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
During a recent deer hunt in Southern Maryland, Blaise Higgs killed a doe and then took it to a butcher shop for dressing. After setting aside several pounds of venison for his family, he donated the rest to an organization that helps feed the hungry.
"A lot of people are having a difficult time putting food on the table, so if you can help them, why not?" said Higgs, 38, a resident of Mechanicsville and a hunter since he was 6.
In the long-running dispute with animal rights advocates over the ethics of deer hunting, Higgs and other sportsmen have found what they believe to be the moral high ground: stocking food banks and soup kitchens with their kills.
One day last week, about 50 people dined on venison chili at the Loaves & Fishes Soup Kitchen, which operates out of St. Paul's United Methodist Church in Leonardtown.
"We call it 'Bambi chili,' " said Shirley Morton, a volunteer cook.
Higgs's bounty was distributed through Farmers and Hunters Feeding the Hungry, a national outreach ministry headquartered in Williamsport, Md. Steve White, a coordinator for the group, said participants in Maryland provided enough food for 497,800 meals between June 2008 and this past July.
Animal rights activists are not impressed.
"I find it offensive that people would try to justify immoral behavior by claiming that something good comes out of it," said Bruce Friedrich, a spokesman for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. "They can't defend ruthlessly blowing away animals for fun, so they come up with these ancillary benefits."
The controversy over deer hunting has heated up in the Washington area in recent months, with several jurisdictions approving deer hunts in public parks as a way to control the herds.
But groups including PETA and the Humane Society of the United States have expressed strong opposition to the hunts, calling them cruel to animals and dangerous for human beings.
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How sad is it that PETA and the Humane Society of the United States, who have combined resources in the neighborhood of one-quarter of a billion dollars, would rather complain about deer hunting than help out hungry families. While farmers, ranchers and hunters work to help feed the families in their communities, PETA and HSUS work to stop their efforts. Why Bruce Friedrich and Wayne Pacelle would let their organizations actively work towards causing more people to go hungry is beyond me.
4 comments:
I see both sides. "We give food to the homeless" is a common excuse for people that like to kill and don't need the food themselves. They could take the several thousand dollars they spent on hunting licenses, guns, clothes, leases, blinds and donate that to a food shelter. I think that would be more beneficial.
A number of years ago in PA some organization killed a whole bunch of Canada geese (which are considered pests) to feed the homeless and, if I remember it correctly, the ensuing outcry forced disposal of the meat.
For decades HSUS particularly but other animal radicals as well have worked with myriad USDA staff and hirelings to commit genocide (via sterilization) of ALL of America's wild horses. BLM has long been directly involved. What we are propagandized we see as wild horses are genetically dead serile "ghosts" --once vibrant and free whole animals. Our mustangs can avoid most animal predators but have zero abilities to protect themselves against wild horse genocidal -- animal radical murderers out for kicks. The animal radicals we were propagandized as wanting to "protect wild horses from slaughter for food" simply didn't want them individually slaughtered for food. The radical groups worked for decades to wipe mustangs totally out of existance as a living species. It's heavily documented the animal radicals are out to eradicate ALL pet and farm domestic animals also and is far along in the process of getting the job done having begun with dogs. Our shelters now are quietly importing massive numbers of middle eastern foreign strays to meet demand for gonad gutted dogs to buy. Why on earth we would ever assume those dedicated to destroying all domestic animals would have the slightest respect or compassion for starving humans is not a realistic expectation.
"I find it offensive that people would try to justify immoral behavior by claiming that something good comes out of it," said Bruce Friedrich, "They can't defend ruthlessly blowing away animals for fun, so they come up with these ancillary benefits."
And what of the thousands of animals, healthy homeable pets that peta and other ARA and welfare groups blast out of existence every year, then come out with nonsense like, `the kindest gift you can give an animal is the gift of euthanasia.`
ARAs hide their real agenda, of the destruction of all human animal relationships behind a curtain of pleas for cash to `help animals.`
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