Izzie and I are currently practicing a catch and release hunting protocol; she catches birds and brings them into the house and I carefully gather them up and set them free. It’s not an arrangement that I fully endorse, but I am happy to do my part in getting the birds back out-of-doors where they belong.
Twice in the past week I’ve been called by that familiar cat sound we owners recognize as the “come here, I’ve brought you a present” meow. It’s a deep and guttural sound, primarily because it is made between clenched jaws. My latest summons was this morning when she brought me a little finch which she released in the dining room. It made a few frantic passes to and from the living room until Izzie knocked it from the air and under the rocker. From there I was able to contain it in my hands. I took the poor thing outside and when I was about to put it in the shelter of a large holly, it flew off. I never know what the life expectancy is of a little bird once it’s spent time in Izzie’s mouth, but my hope is that after recovering from the excitement of being caught by a cat and handled by a human, they are able to make a full recovery.
Although I give Izzie a piece of my mind after she brings me a gift, I never punish her. After all, she is a cat and cats catch stuff. I’m not sure where the instinct to bring her catch to me stems from, except maybe she wants to share her snack with me. Sadly we have differing tastes in snacks.
I sort of feel the same way about people hunting. Intellectually I can accept the fact that some folks enjoy tracking and killing animals. Some of them are even quite tasty. I can also understand the need for animal populations to be controlled. But, just as I’m perplexed by the need for my cat to share her birds with me, I am equally confused about the necessity to have a photo shot of a person and their kill. Mind you, I’m not taking sides about right or wrong, it’s just a concept I have a difficult time embracing.
I also believe that when they’re not breaking a law, hunters should be allowed to hunt. That being said, I think plastering photos of yourself with dead exotic animals on the internet merely fans the flames of collective distaste for the practice. Hunters may be actually conserving animal populations by culling older animals but very few people want to know about it let alone see the pictures. As with many things we all argue about, a bit of mutual respect could go a long way.