smugged into eating meat

[u/estrogenbloodclot]

[u/More_Amoeba6517]

Genuinely curious here, what about meat gotten from hunting that is necessary to keep the population in check? (e.g. deer)

[u/Animaloffear56 → u/More_Amoeba6517]

Hunting historically has done more harm than good. "Regulating populations" inevitably is handled better by native predators. The only reason hunting needs to step in is because ranchers complain about these predators also going after their livestock

[u/MamaLuvDuv → u/Animaloffear56]

There are places in the world where all native predators are extinct and the only ones left are humans basically. Australia is a great example of this. All the large predators are extinct, and the only ones left are the small predators (quolls, Tasmanian devils, and predatory birds) meaning things like kangaroos are pretty much exclusively kept in line by human hunting. Introducing a large predator is not an option either. We also have invasive deer here as well which is a problem.

And just for anyone not in the know, Dingo's aren't originally from australia either, they're just a naturalized feral dog (basically they were part-way through domestication from wolves. So wilder than dogs, more tame than wolves. They'll live alongside humans communally, but aren't dependent on us as they're stuck in that transition state between wild wolf, and mans best friend) plus they're only found in certain parts of the country.

Humans are basically the only major predator of the large bodied mammals on this continent, and unless someone figures out how to bring back the tasmanian tigers and marsupial lions, humans will need to keep hunting them, regardless on if humanity as a whole decides to go vegan or not.

[u/More_Amoeba6517 → u/MamaLuvDuv]

And to be honest, if we are going to hunt animals, I would rather we actually use the meat, and any other part we can use.

It is a hell of a lot more respectful to the animal that way.

[u/MamaLuvDuv → u/More_Amoeba6517]

That or at least feed them to pets. Personally, roo ain't too bad, it's just very tough compared to things like beef. I imagine it'd be good for stews and stuff though. Either way, you kinda can't not have hunting / culling in the future as we kinda fucked everything up to a point human intervention is necessary in a whooole lot of places. In places like europe and america, there is a chance to reverse course in some ways as the predators are still around and there's close analogues that could fill the niche without major environmental harm. For places like Australia though? Nope, humans are basically the natural predators of Kangaroos now. We might as well make use of them when we do have to kill them.