STOP THE KILLING

I'm a meat eater, and I feel that needs to be said before I begin my tirade about something I witnessed a week ago. I understand that animals in the wild kill prey to survive, and I can somewhat condone humans killing animals for sustenance for the same reason... within limits. I respect and admire those who are vegetarian on the basis of ethics. Maybe one day I'll get there myself. What I can't condone is the killing of any animal for sport. A friend and I happened to be touring the Nautical Mile in Freeport, New York, where we spied a group of people picketing the hunting of sharks. I don't like sharks because of childhood trauma of seeing the film JAWS when I was very young and impressionable. That doesn't mean I want to see them callously hunted down. SHARKS ARE NO MORE DANGEROUS THAN ANY OTHER ANIMAL SPECIES ON THE FACE OF THIS EARTH WHEN THEIR TERRITORY IS ENCROACHED UPON. Don't believe me? Go spend some time amongst gorillas, tigers, elephants, bears or other various animals in the wild. SHARKS ARE DYING OUT AND THEY ARE A NECESSARY PART OF THIS PLANET'S ECOLOGY. So, as a photographer, I thought this would be a good topic to document. We photographers can be a strange bunch. Put a camera up to our eye and getting the shot is the only thing we focus on, no matter what the subject matter. It seems like the camera becomes a shield against our own emotions despite what we may witness through the lens, yet many times our goal is to get a specific reaction which we may not be feeling while we press the shutter. Our reactions come later when we review the results of our work. My friend and I observed a shark hunting contest being held and needless to say, the camera shutters were clicking... and I became disgusted. I was offended by this needless display of "sportsmanship," and came to a strong conclusion. I've met others who have hunted animals for sport and let's just say, I am not their friend. PEOPLE WHO CAN KILL ANIMALS FOR SPORT ARE CAPAPBLE OF MURDERING HUMAN BEINGS AS WELL. The psychology is the same. These people just want to kill, and are looking for "acceptable" venues for their perverse behaviors. Every sports hunter I've met exhibited this same disregard for life. Bears are killed in New Jersey because of "overpopulation." Really? Where? In there own territory? They don't exactly mingle in human poluation and while I know that sometimes they can be seen around the backyards of these rural New Jersey neighborhoods, they run and are more frightened by us humans than we are of them, and they come to these backyards because of the inability of human homeowners to properly package their garbage and other waste. So, think about these types of people who look for excuses to kill, and maybe support legislation against the unneccessary wholesale slaughter of animal life.