Why Hunting Should Remain Legal
By Jessica Alley

Introduction

I. Imagine this: you are driving along at night in a poorly lit suburb. All at once, a deer jumps out from a group of trees. You slam on your brakes, but it is too late. The front of your car slams into the deer’s body. Upon inspection, you find that the deer is near death, and the front of your brand-new car is badly damaged. You wouldn’t want this to happen to you, would you? But as scary as it is, it happens all the time. In Montgomery County, MD, there were 1,244 automobile accidents involving deer in 1995.

II. After researching the ethics of hunting, I have found that if it were to become illegal, deer could become a hazard to humans.

III. Hunting should remain legal because it keeps the wildlife population down, provides food for the homeless, and is a popular sport that many people enjoy.

IV. In the next few minutes, I hope to convince you that hunting should remain legal.

Body

I. Hunting should remain legal because it provides food for the homeless.

A. In 2002, Virginia sportsmen donated over 250,000 pounds of meat to Hunters for the Hungry, an organization that gives venison (deer meat) to food banks, rescue missions, and soup kitchens.

B. Since 1991, Hunters for the Hungry has distributed 5.6 million servings of venison to citizens in Virginia who have needed the nutrition and protein.

C. FHFH, which stands for Farmers and Hunters Feeding the Hungry, is an outreach ministry that feeds venison to the homeless. During its first seven years (1997 to 2003) FHFH has processed 1,400 tons of venison for soup kitchens and food pantries across America.

II. Another reason why hunting should remain legal is because it keeps the wildlife populations down.

A. When more people started hunting in Westchester County, New York, complaints about deer dropped to the lowest number they had been in 12 years.

B. To people who live in suburbs and do not hunt, deer are pests. One man in New York had $15,000 worth of landscaping destroyed by deer.

C. Not only are deer pests, they can be dangerous to humans. Deer carry lyme disease, which is spread to humans by ticks. In 1998, there were 500 cases of it in Maryland, and the number is growing as the deer population grows.

III. My last reason why hunting should remain legal is because it would allow the young and old to continue to hunt for recreational purposes.

A. According to a poll conducted in California in 1990, 50% of people who owned all kinds of guns said that the reason they owned them was to hunt.

B. Hunting is a sport that many people enjoy. According to a survey conducted in 2001 by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, that year over 13 million people 16 years or older hunted across America.

C. Dave Henderson, a hunter and outdoor columnist writes, Hunting is an experience. I hunt because I enjoy the many aspects of the activity and the concept and history behind it. But you’ll never be able to fully explain the personal affection for the hunt anymore than you can describe emotion.

Conclusion

I. Today I have tried to convince you that hunting should remain legal.

II. First, I showed you statistics about how hunting provides food for the homeless. Second, I showed you how, if not kept under control, the population of deer can become a hazard to humans. Finally, I gave you examples of how hunting is a tradition that people of all ages enjoy.

III. I hope I have convinced you to allow hunting to remain legal. I would like to leave you with this thought. Imagine you were the person whose car hit the deer that I talked about at the beginning of my speech. You may not care much about this issue now, but if that happened to you, you would be devastated. And if hunting were to become illegal or more restricted, that would mean a lot more deer and a lot more chances that it could be you who hits one.

 

Bibliography

Newton, David E. Gun Control an Issue for the Nineties. New Jersey: Enslow Publishers, Inc., 1992.

Norman, Geoffrey. Hunting Keeps the Wildlife Population in Check. The Rights of Animals, 1999.

Ingram, Bruce. Urban Bowhunts for Virginia Deer. [Online] Available http://www.virginiagameandfish.com/va_aa075303a/, February 8, 2004

Cochran, Bill. David Horn Fed the Hungry, Made Hunters Proud. [Online] Available http://www2.roanoke.com/outdoors/billcochran/4888.html, February 21, 2002.

Henderson, Dave. The Reasons Why We Hunt. [Online] Available http://www.ithacajournal.com/news/stories/20011227/localsp orts/1375173.html, December 7, 2001.

Wilson, Rick. About FHFH. [Online] Available http://www.fhfh.org/about.html, February 29, 2004.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. National Survey of Hunting, Fishing, and Wildlife-Associated Recreation. [Online] Available http://fa.r9.fws.gov/surveys/surveys.html, August 8, 2003.