Editor:
It is a shame that the recent news of the snowy owls in Delta has descended into yet another anti-hunting forum. As a non-hunter but wildlife conservationist, I would like to think that I can hold a balanced and unbiased view of waterfowl hunting in Delta.
The view that organic meat is widely available completely misses the point of animal ethics and welfare. Farmed animals, organic or not, still have to be killed before they arrive in the local grocer's shelf. A wild duck flying over the Delta marshes that unfortunately encounters a hunter's bullet has still had good life and a totally natural existence up until that point.
Organic free range is hardly utopia.
A chicken that lives half of its life in a shed, has been selectively bred for generations, eats only semi-natural food and then spends hours being trucked across the province to a processing facility is hardly in the same league as a wild animal.
People with strong views on the subject of animal ethics should either become vegetarian or accept that human nature is full of inconsistencies and hypocrisies.
Organizations like Ducks Unlimited Canada were founded by hunters (although now the majority of members are not hunters). DUC has done infinitely more for saving and restoring wetlands than governments, corporations or other non-profit "environmental" organizations that seem to spend more time brainwashing the public for funds than actually engaging in conservation.
Like it or loathe it, hunting is indirectly the biggest savior of the Delta marshes.
Andrew Norden
