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作者：傑奇•艾倫•朱利安諾 博士
憐憫心，有時候是設身處地為人著想的必要能力。
真正平安喜樂的獲得，來自他人也同樣的平安喜樂，這是一種常識。
─ 美國牧師作家福萊瑞德．畢克納
暴力的原因絕非無知，而是自私使然。
唯有尊重可以抑制暴力……對環境及人類生命的尊重。
─美國牧師作家威廉史龍柯芬
暴力，是無能最後的藉口。
─科幻小說作家以薩克•艾斯摩
除了傷害孩童外，沒有比將謀殺動物當作運動更懦弱的行為了。躲在樹下，用火力強大的來福槍，射殺那在350碼外健康的麋鹿鳥獸，這樣的行為怎麼會被稱做「運動」呢？
然而，有些獵人更為懦弱而缺德，他們付費給狩獵區的擁有者，即有權利在幾碼、甚至幾呎內開槍射殺動物，而通常這些動物都還在獸欄裡。像這樣與自然界徹底脫離、危害我們世界的例子，可說莫此為甚。
在蒙大拿的一處獵場裡，獵人手提公麋鹿。（照片版權歸屬 破碎之心獵場）
根據今年3月11日出刊的「時代雜誌」指出，美國境內現約有2,000個狩獵保留區，光是德州就有500個。大部分的獵場都對顧客提出保證，如果沒獵到任何獵物就不需付費。而為了維護這樣的承諾，傳統的狩獵規則就常常被擱在一旁。
獵場的動物已經習慣接觸人類，有些還已經被訓練成，一聽到飼料桶的聲響，就會主動靠攏過來；有些動物被囚禁在小型場地裡，這樣環境使牠們無法藏匿太久；許多動物更是在離開籠子之前就已被殺害。
獵場經營者透過這種不道德的經營手段而獲得大筆財富。如果是外來種的動物，像努比亞山羊、阿拉伯羚羊、犀牛、斑馬或老虎等外來動物，更可索價2萬美元以上。
即便同是獵人，也有人反對這樣的活動。住在佛州湖泊市的派瑞•阿諾德，從七歲就開始從事授獵活動，他向「時代雜誌」表示，他不贊同射殺獸欄內動物的狩獵方式。他說：「他們這樣做，並不是在打獵，那簡直與屠殺無異。」
我曾看過一段由美國人道協會（HSUS）所提供的影片：一隻被取掉利爪的黑豹，從小貨車後方的籠子被釋放出來，狂吠的狗群緊追在黑豹後面，牠躲進貨車下方，因恐懼而發抖著。而那個付錢買『狩獵』的人，便輕舉他那火力強大的來福槍，跪在車旁，向車下那隻恐懼畏縮的動物近距離開槍。這部影片真是我所看過人類殘暴對待動物的有行徑中，最可悲的例子。
無論是獸欄狩獵或一般的狩獵，被獵來當裝飾品的動物，會比被宰殺來食用的動物受到更多痛苦。獵人既然是要一顆完整的頭來做成裝飾品，所以他們不會射擊動物的頭部讓牠迅速死亡，相反的，他們會用子彈或弓箭對準動物的身體再射擊。結果通常是那些受傷的動物就在驚慌當中，蹣跚地跛行著，直到被連續射擊致死。這些動物的死亡過程多是冗長而痛苦的，但獵人在展現狩獵紀念品時，卻吹噓著自己的勇氣與膽量。
【全文連載】
■最低等的生物 (上) (中) (下)
全文與圖片詳見: http://ens.lycos.com/ens/mar2002/2002L-03-22g.html
版權歸屬Environment News Service(ENS)，環境資訊協會(徐怡德 譯，蘇崧棱、蔡麗伶 審校)
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By Jackie Alan Giuliano, Ph.D
"Compassion is sometimes the fatal capacity
for feeling what it is like to live inside somebody else's skin.
It is the knowledge that there can never really be
any peace and joy for me
until there is peace and joy finally for you too."
-- Frederick Buechner
"The cause of violence is not ignorance.
It is self-interest. ...
Only reverence can restrain violence --
reverence for human life and the environment."
-- William Sloan Coffin, Jr.
"Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent."
-- Isaac Asimov
Besides harming children, there is no more cowardly an act than murdering an animal for sport. What could possible be "sporting" about shooting a healthy elk, deer, bird, or prairie dog from 350 yards away with a high-powered rifle while hiding in a tree?
Even more cowardly and obscene, though, may be the hunters who pay a fee to game preserve owners for the right to kill an animal from a few yards or even a few feet away, often while the animal is in a cage. There may be no greater example of the profound disconnection from the natural world that is plaguing our world.
Hunter with bull elk on Montana game ranch (Photo courtesy Broken Hart Ranch)
According to “Time” magazine’s March 11, 2002 issue, as many as 2,000 hunting preserves may exist in the U.S. with 500 in Texas alone. Most offer a guarantee that if you don’t kill something, you don’t pay. In order to offer such a promise, traditional rules of sport hunting are usually suspended.
The animals at these ranges are made accustomed to human contact and some are trained to come to the sound of a rattling food bucket. Some are confined to small areas where they can’t hide for very long. And many don’t even make it out of their cages before being murdered.
There is good money in this obscene practice for the range operators. Exotic animals like the Nubian ibex, the Arabian Oryx, rhinoceros, zebra or tigers can command $20,000 or more.
Even some hunters object to the practice. Perry Arnold of Lake City, Florida, who has been hunting since he was seven years old, told “Time”, he disapproves of these canned hunts. “What they got going on now, that ain’t hunting. That’s a
slaughter.”
I have seen video footage, obtained by the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), of a black leopard whose claws had been removed that was released from a cage in the back of a pickup truck. It was chased by barking dogs and hid, terrified and trembling, beneath the truck. The hunter who had paid for this “hunt,” got on his knees with his high powered rifle just feet from the truck and shot the frightened, cowering animal. It was the most pathetic example of how brutal a human can be towards an animal that I had ever seen.
Animals hunted for trophies, whether they are killed in canned hunts or in regular sport hunting, suffer much more than any animal killed for food. Since the hunter wants an intact head for display, they will not kill the animal quickly by shooting it in the head.Instead, they use arrows or bullets aimed at the body of the animal, usually resulting in a wounded animal staggering, limping, and panicked while the killer continues to shoot. Death is often slow and painful. But the hunter has his or her trophy head to show friends and to brag about his bravery and courage in the fight.
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