| Community Leader Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Ann Arbor, MI, USA Gender:  Posts: 834 Level up: 52%, 73 Points needed |  |  Quote:
Originally Posted by sgtdmski  The only thing illogical is your own lack of understanding. Overpopulation in any species causes famine, diesease and ultimately death. Overpopulation results in less food sources for the animals, this results in them having less to eat which equates to them weighing and developing less. This ultimately leads to disease, since the animals are unhealthy because of not being nourished correctly, they become more susceptible to diseases that they might normally have fought off. Any time the risk of disease increases, so does death. Coupled with the fact that since food sources are diminishing in an area, this causes the animals to move to new areas. In doing this, the animals sometimes introduce a new predator into the mix, which now adds to thier risk of death.
Nature requires a balance, and one of the best methods of maintaining that balance is through hunting. This eliminates the threat of overpopulation while at the same time protecting the numbers that we currently have. Again of the some 5000 Buffalo in this area, only 50, 1% will be hunted.
In the past, Montana has allowed the shooting of Bison that have wandered from the protected area or removed some to slaughter to limit the size of the herd. In fact during one year I believe that some 600 Bison were killed. Yet despite this number the Bison herd size has remained relatively consistent (fluctuating between plus or minus 10%)
Here we are talking about only 1% compared to the 600 or 12%.
dmk | Perhaps I am being illogical and not understanding. At least I am willing to look at alternative points of view, while some do not.
Nature has always been in balance, and always will be. Overpopulation occurs naturally in areas, and nature rectifies it without human intervention. It is human activities that knock nature out of balance. We fence land which once was habitat for animals. We introduce new species to an area simply by shipping stuff from one place to another (think zebra mussles in the Great Lakes). We release chemicals into the air and water that build up in all sorts of life. And some of us don't care that this is happening.
You cannot know that the 1% killed in hunting would be the same animals that are killed by overpopulation.
I believe that most animals would prefer to live their lives with no human involvement, even if that includes starving to death due to lack of food. | 
10-18-2006, 07:46 PM
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