How can Prince William campaign against rhino poaching when he happily kills other animals for sport?

[Hammy02]

I genuinely can't get my head around this. Am I missing something?

"In my books, killing something for fun is absolutely morally unacceptable. Always. No exceptions.

Killing something for economic reasons may or may not be absolutely morally unacceptable."

Totally agree with you seeker. I am a vegetarian, but don't have a (big) problem with other people killing animals for food, say. But for fun? No way!

Seriously, pheasants?! They are totally free range whether farmed or wild, they are stupid, they are killed for food, happy days all round. "LynetteScavo" mind my butt? really? Why?

Well, I do find it hard to understand why anyone would find killing an animal fun, however, as I understand it, the things he hunts are food that's eaten - the animals he shoots aren't just left to rot.

I don't have a moral problem with hunting for food, it does seem more ethical than farming, and I don't see why the person who's killed the deer I'm turning into a stew shouldn't have enjoyed doing it. I like eating venison, rabbit and phesant, I don't have a particularly strong view that it's wrong that the person who's killed the animal I'm eating might have enjoyed themself in the process, better that than someone who's terribly miserable about doing it.

By that logic, anyone who worked in an abbttoir who reports good job satisfaction should be fired...

So it's OK to breed pheasants for the sole purpose of enjoying killing them because they are stupid?

The same number are killed in RTAs and hunts, they are not wasted, they have happy wild lives and are consumed at the end, I am not s veggie and I would rather consume free range shot pheasants than battery beheaded chickens, no?

Pheasants are NOT, NOT, NOT free range!

Every year in Britain, more than 45 million pheasants and partridges are mass produced inside hatcheries and rearing sheds. From the sheds, they are moved to fattening pens before being released to serve as feathered targets for shooters.

I agree with the OP, William is a hunter and should stop participating in all bloodsports.

The pheasants where I live are wild, and there is an abundance of them!

They're released into the wild, but they're battery-reared. Pheasants aren't even a native species of Britain!

As I have said before, the birds/venison/boars that are killed are distributed amongst the families on the estate/that have helped on the hunt so it is a throw back from the poverty but families are fed.

OP YABU.

it is interesting, this debate. I was talking about how I had to get rid of slugs in order to protect my veg crop. I was accused of cruelty, and of being vile by a vegetarian. Who was apparently unaware that crops DO have to be protected from insects and animals that eat it or even vegetarians would go hungry.

Bernard Levin called it animal lookism - the cute and interesting ones are protected, the insignificant ones are left to die with nary a protest.

Do you differentiate between a slug and a pheasant? I am genuinely interested.

Don't forget about all the wild and domestic animals cruelly snared, trapped and poisoned to protect the 'game' birds too. The shooting industry is a disgrace, and all the Royals do is support it. Ugh!

I think pheasants are chinese ? just a bit off topic then

I should have said east Asia

I should have said east Asia

Ginger, all the pheasants that are released and shot at in Britain are not eaten. A huge number die on the roads, for example!

As others have said, pheasants are bred to be shot - I know a few people who shoot and generally they travel out to the shoot with the birds they are going to shoot in the same vehicle. Venison is ethical. Vegetarians who continue to consume dairy are directly supporting the veal industry. I don't have an opinion on Prince William. I accept that farming and blood sports will continue regardless of my opinion on the matter and I just make the best food choices I can according to my own ethics. It goes without saying that as much as possible should be done to protect a critically endangered species.

I'd rather eat a pheasant that I saw shot and my dog retrieved than a supermarket chicken with blisters on it's joints.

Boden, I have already staded that the hunts I have known locally send all the birds back with families to consume, we have no control over road kill.

DOG - I struggle with the why question - perhaps it's because I've never tried hunting and perhaps if I did I'd enjoy it, but it doesn't seem fun to me, however I'm a great big hypocrite right there because I eat meat that's been killed by hunting. I just don't like the idea of killing an animal myself, I want it to be slaughtered elsewhere then arrive in nice easy to deal with chunks at the butchers near us. I don't see that my refusal to get my hands dirty is a more moral position.

While I am happy to eat a varity of meat, I try to eat free range and organic as much as I can, but that doesn't mean I'll happily eat an animal that I knew to be endangered even if it had lead a nice life. Most meat eaters feel the same.

That's my point. There's no way that all of the birds released are shot and killed, Ginger, they simply won't be. Thousands will die on the roads.

Because of the enfeeblement that results from being awful, over-crowded rearing in sheds, around half of the birds die before they can be gunned down. They perish from exposure, starvation, disease and predation.

Given that a small group of shooters can kill up to 500 birds a day, many of the victims are not actually eaten! According to an editorial in Country Life, some of the ?surplus? is buried in specially dug holes. Added to these casualties are the numerous unretrieved birds who die slowly from their gunshot wounds, out of sight of the guns.

There's nothing free-range and ethical about it!

Breeding and shooting pheasants brings alot of income to parts of the country which otherwise prob wouldn't have any. And if people didn't want to shoot things on the moors of Britain they would probably all be turned into pine forests as that is more profitable (with the odd wind turbine chucked in), so accept the inevitable and stop complaining.

And don't tell me tourism is the answer as ramblers, birdwatchers and caravaners, who are the type that that area attracts, spend the least they can get away with. And don't mention sheep because they don't earn much either.

They perish from exposure, starvation, disease and predation.

Only if the gamekeeper isn't up to scratch.