[marktwain]

“So you bait an area to attract deer. You don’t hunt the deer, you kill semi-tame deer who have unfortunately come to trust you.”

So who lives a better life? These deer or cattle that are penned up in feedlots?

Ranching and hunting change from one to another in degree. It is not a sharp and distinct line.

I have even had to “hunt” semi-tame chickens that refused to be caught when the time came to slaughter them.

Perhaps you are a vegan.

[EinNYC]

Perhaps I am a vegan? No. I eat poultry and fish. Nothing with 4 legs. No red meat at all. I do not approve of how quadrupeds are raised and confined, it is disgusting. And, I don't economically support the practice. I also spend more to buy cage free eggs, as the idea of the battery egg factories disgusts me.

I have been, since I was right out of babyhood, very close to all manner of critters. It is an integral part of my nature. Stray cats and dogs come right up to me. Horses, even cattle, have come right up to me in the field. I have tamed and placed many the feral-born kitten. Even my pet lizards know me from other people and run up to the front of their tank when I approach. I can "read" an animal, from a horse to a fish, and I basically know what is on their mind. That is why I was so successful at breeding even difficult tropical fish, amphibia, lizards, etc. That is why I haven't been bitten by dogs or cats who gave other people problems.

To me, the trust of an animal is something precious, it is a gift. To use their trust to enable me to approach them to kill them is something I could not do; the very practice fills me with horror.