Greatly Disturbing
My
brother and I recently shared a hotel room for a couple of nights. I always enjoy my time with him. He seems to have always been there for
me, and as adults we have grown into great friends.
Because
I have to be attached to oxygen all the time, and because I snore and cough
most of the night, he thought it would good to purchase some earplugs for the
nights. There was a sporting goods
store across the way from the hotel, so I tagged along.
I
had never been in a place like this before. If wildlife had a HELL this was surely it. The place was bigger than an airplane
hanger. In my hometown we had a
very nice sports shop, Wammy’s, where we could get all we needed. This mega shop was filled with trophy
animals of every kind, stuffed/mounted, and displayed like a museum all around
the store.
They
were trophy animals, the best of the species, and beautiful creatures. All creatures come from the creator,
including us. These were hunted
because they were the biggest or most unusual, or even rare. There was a herd of pronghorns, a mule
dear “museum,’ African trophies, walls of dear, elk, and caribou heads. For what purpose were they killed,
other than to brag?
One
of my majors in college was Biology.
I understand that we have knocked the whole predator/prey ratios out of
whack (not a scientific term). I
know that we must hunt to cull herds like a mountain lion or bear or pack of
wolves. I am not a hunter myself,
but I have had friends that did it right:
practice, reload, butcher, use most of the animal. My disgust is not about this.
Science
teaches us that the smartest, strongest, most disease-resistant animals become the trophy animals. They make it through season after
season. They become the grand gene
pool for the species in that area.
Given the opportunity of time they may develop unusual antlers or colors
on their coats. The weak, slow,
dumb, young or old and sick are culled out of the herd by the major predators
in the area, not as trophies.
These
mega stores promote, not intentionally I’m sure, the weakening of the species
that they prize so well. This is
bad biology, let alone theology.
As
a priest, I know that people hunt and fish. Some use cameras more than bullets. Some fisher-folk employ catch and release
techniques. And as I said
earlier, some are very responsible hunters. I wonder if many think about that this is all happening in
God’s creation. God has created
this beauty around us that we can live in it and protect it, and use only what
we need. We don’t need trophies.
I
couldn’t stop thinking about and greatly disturbed by such a display of vanity
as I saw at that mega hell for big game animals. I didn’t sleep well for days. My brother didn’t need earplugs, but I did.
In Christ's love,
Fr. Robert Pax
