[Jacob]

'The animals we kill are quite literally a danger to our industries, companies, and households.'

How many people in this day and age have actually died through a Rat scampering around minding its own business? Or a Pidgeon merrily plodding along, quite happy to peck at scraps of food on the ground? Or a Squirrel toying with its nuts? That's like saying those people who began culling Hedgehogs were in the right, when they could have just as easily removed them to some place else.

'It's not a primitive need to hunt'

Yes it is, because we don't need to hunt anymore. It's pointless. Unless you're living out in the wilds and need to kill Deer for food/clothing, you don't need to pick up a gun and blow the poor things head off.

'I like shooting - killing off vermin is not only challenging, but a service to the country.'

When i read that i immediatly remembered the episode of 'Southpark' were Stans uncle said that he couldn't hunt certain animals for sport anymore [or something like that] and so justified his killing of them by saying he was "thinning out their numbers" and helping nature along. You are not doing a service to your country because a couple of dead Rats are hardly going to effect the country on a whole.

'Setting a hawk on these vermin creatures is no different to shooting them'

It's very different because it's the way nature intended it to be. Nature did not intend an Air rifle to be pointed at the face of a small Rat, nature did not intend for that Rat to have its head blown off by a high velocity bullet, nor did nature intend for the corpse to waste away for no particular reason than a couple of teens to get their jolly's from.

'so he killed the pest.'

So, that means that if a Dog barks alot someone can happily trot upto it and cave its head in with a shovel? Or if a Cat defacates on somebody's Rosebed, they have the right to shoot it in the face with a shotgun? They're making pests of themselves...so, technically, people who are bothered by this have a right to erradicate them.

'it's impossible to become attatched to an animal like that'

Okay, firstly, Rabbits don't sit in hutches all day long if you look after them properly. Secondly, if you give it love and affection, you can become attached to it. Much like people who own Snakes, and become attached to them.

'As a rule of thumb, I never take a shot on a vermin if I don't think I can take it out without it even knowing'

I'm sure when it hears the whooshing of the bullet and the hot led impact with its small and fragile body it knows some c*nt has taken a shot at it.

'and is less degrading to the fox'

Ahh yes, because what's more pleasing then having your insides ripped out, being positioned in a manner suitable to the person who killed you and then stuffed with random material and stood somewhere the people who killed you can look at you and say "Oh yes, i did that. Indeedily, i did."

'They kill a lot of cats, rip up a lot of garbage sacks'

That's like saying "Let's kill a Lion for eating Antelope and sleeping.". It's what Foxes are supposed to do, hunt and eat. Okay, so they shouldn't be trotting around the city, but then again, we shouldn't have built cities in their backyards.

'Theres a certain thrill at that point, that you can't really get from other things.'

I know some people will suddenly think i've gone off the point here, but why not just do what that film portrayed [the one with Jean Claude Van Damme] were those people were hunting the homeless. I find no problem in that, as they're pests. Or, better yet, hunt people who are on deathrow. Or known Paedophiles. Or seriel rapists. Atleast they can think ahead.

'but maybe if you were a farmer who was about to lose his farm because huge flocks of rabbits were eating through your crops, then you might have a change of heart and kill the bastards.'

That's completly different, from what i'm aware you're not a farmer and so you don't actually need to kill anything, if you have a pest problem, fine, try and deal with it in a humane way. Unless the Rats are charging at you with spears and rifles of their own, i don't see why you have to kill them. Surely making them bleed and spatter puts more bacteria and disease in the air and ground than catching them and releasing them some place else?

'so why the hell not use my skills the help out my local area by reducing pest numbers?'

Why not use your skills to tranqulize them instead? Why shatter their skulls unfairly? Why not just put them to sleep and move them some place else.

'We aren't the ones who control it, we just help, with our skills in gun use.'

No, you believe you do. But i hardly think your helping lower the numbers of Rats et al. If you went around your town, shooting at random Rats that were posing a threat to people, then fine, that could be classed as helping. But you're not. Besides, my Nan lives on the outskirts of quite a rough area, and when going into town on a night, i never see any Rats, although it is known that they are there [droppings etc] so, i fail to see how you are doing a justice. Rats tend to avoid human contact, and thus barely have contact with them at all [unless they're living in their house] so you must sit up at night in your backyard taking pot shots at them. If you want to reduce a pest problem, get a Cat or Dog.

'The likelihood is, that most the animals you kill with a rifle, were either headed for termination by a professional pest controller, or were going to make a nuisance out of themselfs, or were going to die on a road.'

So? That's like saying the death penalty is fine and dandy because people are going to die soon anyway.

'If you've ever been to anywhere like Cornwall in England, then you would know that Seagulls are MAJOR problem.'

If this is about the Seagulls attacking people then why not just do research on alternative methods of getting rid of them? Sure, you may kill a couple of thousand, but that doesn't exactly stop anymore from being a bother. A couple of months later that thousand will be replaced by more...and more...and more etc.

In summary, by killing something you justify it by saying you're helping to keep the numbers down. When in reality you aren't. You are merely making way for more of their kind to take it's place and so the cycle continues with no long term benefit or solution. To find vermin, you must go looking for it. Rats hardly prance around in the garden, singing tributes to Donny Osmond until somebody shoots them. You have to wait for them and in doing that you are merely looking for a kill without reason.