I’m sorry, I don’t care if a stray goat or sheep gets killed. Wolves, mountain lions, bears, and other predators are all extremely important to the ecosystem. We complain about the overpopulation of prey and invasive species (that we foolishly introduce) while failing to recognize that this is a normal reaction to the decline in natural predators.

My dog was killed by a coyote last year. I’m sure that if I had been there, I would have tried to kill that coyote. Does this mean that I believe that we should go out and shoot predators that are closing in on the shitty new developments we create with a blatant disregard to conservation efforts? No. I think it means we should watch our pets when we let them out, especially at night. 

Healthy predators will not usually attack humans. Of course, they may. However, I think it’s important to realize that nearly every species of animal is afraid of our sorry asses. And with good reason. They don’t kill for fun, they kill for food. Which is more than can be said about many human hunters (don’t get me wrong, I think that hunting during the appropriate times and within preordained boundaries, then eating the animal that was killed is an entirely, wonderfully, spectacularly fine thing to do that actually lends perspective concerning the natural order of things that we have thus far effectively removed ourselves from).  

Characterizing animals as either “good” or “bad” depending on their diet is entirely too common and completely unfair. It’s natural to shy away from death and to sympathize with hunted prey while watching a Nature show, but for pete’s sake, please stop personifying lions, tigers, and bears (oh, my!) as evil simply because they are powerful and good at what they do. Does that make us evil? We are obnoxiously powerful and arguably the best species in the world at systematically killing game. Can we as a society not recognize the necessity of death to the ecosystem or even our own hamburgers?!

Maybe not. We’re so far removed from the process of killing the food that we ingest that it’s silly. I’ve never shot and killed my own food. It’s on my bucket list, because I think it’s important to engage in the natural processes of life. Wow, I’m done for right now.

Tune in next week, when I’ll attack the vortex of agricultural malpractice that we’ve managed to suck ourselves into!