Hunting disprupts ecosystem

Hunting is definitely not needed and disrupts our ecosystem [“Hunting Losing Popularity Among College Students”, By Nicholas Grenke on Dec. 3].  All wildlife play an important role in the ecosystem. The noise and fear hunting causes wild animals problems such as not allowing them to eat enough and store enough fat for the winter, disrupts migration, etc. The trash and lead shot from hunting threatens the environment.  

 Habitat and food limit the size of wildlife populations, not hunting, as Grenke’s article would lead you to believe. When a wildlife population approaches its carrying capacity, reproduction and survival decrease due to less food. Nature has been regulating itself this way for a long time before humans were even here. 

Hunting does not control populations.  Deer hunting, for instance, actually increases deer populations. By shooting the deer with the largest racks, the healthiest deer are removed from the population weakening the gene pool. This leaves more does in the population to reproduce. Also, the increase in food for each deer increases the birth rate of deer. Natural predators, on the other hand, often hunt the weakest or sickest animals, which maintain the ecological balance. 

Sincerely,

William McMullin

2004 WMU Environmental Studies Alumnus

Short URL: http://www.westernherald.com/?p=12979

Posted by heraldstaff on Dec 6 2009. Filed under Letters to the Editor, Opinion. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry

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