Opinion - Animal pain

[Parnell]

Excellent comments, all of them.  I'm enjoying this.

I wasn't raised to hunt and have wondered if those that were are more immune to the feelings of remorse - that sick feeling.  I suppose it's an individual thing.

Pap, you made me laugh with your comment on stray dogs.  I APPLAUD you for performing a necessary task, I'd say you are doing the right thing.  It would be very tough for me to, but I think I would.  In my mind, better than the animals not being properly looked after and suffering from malnutrition, disease, suffering from a broken back on the side of a road, continuing to breed and cycle the suffering, etc. 

Ben your comment made me reflect.  The sound of a wounded animal makes me cringe.  It's those sounds and the unknown that bother me.

PD - I'm curious if you were raised to slaughter farm animals.  Do you think that it is a conditioned effect?  I wonder if those that come to hunt in their adulthood and not as children feel this way more?  Dunno, but a curious thought.

Eddie - So glad you chimed in to balance the equation.  I'll never forget my first real hunt with you in Georgia and what went down!

The idea of fish being treated so horribly is an interesting thing.  I've been reading that they do not.  It does occur to me that fish are really treated terribly.  Shoot, I treat fish worse than probably any other living thing as far as using them for bait, shark fishing, etc.

Like I said, part of this topic...in my head, is that I've been thinking about lately is how we individually validate what good hunting (and fishing) ethics are in our own minds.

Thanks guys, keep the comments coming.

[Buffalogobbler]

I think, like some of the guy's have already said that animals can tolerate pain more than we understand,or some how turn it off, maybe they interpet pain differently than we do.
I'll always remember one time my buddy shot a deer with a 12 guage slug and I went to help him track it, there was snow on the ground and the buck was bleeding heavily. Tracking was easy and at first the buck ran straight up the hill. When he got to the top of the hill the tracks changed, they started to wander around, like a normal deer going about his daily routine, it was obvious that he did not know that we were tracking him, he even went up to a sapling and rubbed it, there was little bits of fresh bark on top of the snow. We trailed him until he went off on to posted land where we could not follow. To this day I am convinced that after the initial shock of being shot, the buck forgot or did not know that it was wounded.

Kevin

[Pappy]

I can do both ,but it bothers me more to kill raised animals than wild, don't know why,   it just like OK I was raised to be killed and eaten, at least the wild ones have a chance of evading me.
   Pappy

[sleek]

I love animals. I felt terrible when I shot my first deer. I still hunt but you really absolutely HAVE to respect the life they have. More now than ever because we no longer depend on them for existence.  We may choose to end their life and thats fine but it borders on spiritual the respect you must have in doing so.  From deer to mice I dont enjoy killing. Farm animals I have raised? Couldnt do it. I cared for them. Cant kill an animal I cared for. Respect for those that can. Thank you too.

[PEARL DRUMS]

"PD - I'm curious if you were raised to slaughter farm animals.  Do you think that it is a conditioned effect?  I wonder if those that come to hunt in their adulthood and not as children feel this way more?  Dunno, but a curious thought."

I was surely conditioned man. It started at age 5 in my family. We all gathered at Uncle Duane's for an old fashioned 100 chicken butcher fest. My dad, although a state retiree, is a professional meat processor. So I have seen farm animals dispatched in every way you can imagine. My remorse for wild critters comes from my great appreciation for the rugged life they live. Even here in farm country they still get hungry, wet and cold with no roof anywhere to huddle under. Farm animals have it dicked from birth most often!

[vinemaplebows]

I've watched a lot of turkeys deal with it. I don't know how many gobblers I've seen deal with the heart felt grief watching their buddy die, and then celebrate his sad departure into the afterlife, (my freezer) by taking turns having sex with it. Now, that's remorse and feelings!

Ah, a touching response...I love it! Gots some rabbits to butcher now, they won't feel a thing!

[Slackbunny]

I imagine they feel physical pain the same as we do. I would guess that their tolerance of it varies wildly from species to species, and from individual to individual, but I would suspect that among mammals we all feel it relatively the same.

But many animals lack the intelligence to make the connection between pain and other emotions. For example most animals are not aware of their own mortality; therefore they lack fear of death. Fear is an emotion, but pain is a physical sensation. So while animals likely feel pain just as keenly as we do, they probably do not feel the intense fear of death that we associate with extreme pain.

[JoJoDapyro]

The brain configuration is such in animals that they still feel pain, but do not turn the pain into what we do as humans. I always feel for the animals I kill, even fish. I have seen one deer gut shot and I will never forget that scream. Death is part of the game. Wild animals at least get to live free till the end. It bothers me when young hunters aren't taught to respect the annals they kill. My nephew being  about the worst case.

[mullet]

It's a lot worse when an animal is killed by another animal, piece by piece. Or, partially consumed while still alive.

[H Rhodes]

I am usually not at a loss for words, but this post made me really think about what happens when we hunt and take an animal's life.   Short answer from me would be yes, I think they are more like us in their response to pain than you would think.  Years ago I took a doe that had a yearling with her.  I listened to that yearling blowing and running around looking for her for several minutes after the shot.  Made me feel terrible. I have grown more selective about what animal I choose to take.  I think animals have souls and that the woods are a very spiritual place.  The killing is my least favorite part of the whole process, but I am a hunter and I can't change what I am, so I make the best shot that I can and try to make a swift clean kill.   The game animals know what they are put on this earth to be and I don't feel haunted by them, but I do feel the connectedness of the natural world.  Each kill will be a part of you from now on, so it behooves you to do it with respect, honor, and reverence for your prey.  Everything in the woods has a job to do, both the hunter and the hunted.  I am thankful every year that I get to take part in this age old ritual again.  It is as close to a church as I am ever apt to be.     Thanks for posing this question Parnell.   Set my wheels to turning...   

[soy]

I have sadness and joy with every kill and the utmost respect and remorse for every one of the animals domestic and wild who's life I have taken....and hope one day that I will  return that ....feel pain u bet they do

[Badger]

  I agree with Eddie. Pain is relative. We tend to kill qiicker than most predators. Suffering and dieing is part of life, reducing the suffering is the best we can do.

[bubby]

Parnell we raised hogs, chickens, rabbits and chickens and cattle and killed them all for food, even as a little guy i never had a problem killing or eating animals we raised

[Del the cat]

Of course they feel pain, but we can't take the woes of the world on our shoulders. We just gotta do the best we can in our circumstances and in our consciences.
My daughter is vegetarian but she will eat wild stuff that my brother has shot (pigeon, rabbit) because she has knows it's had a wild and free existence and been killed quick and humanely. It's like if a goat fell off the mountain and was lyin' there half dead it would be cruel not to put it out of it's misery and once dead it would be a damn waste not to eat it! :laugh
Mind I gotta admit, when our old cat died  we didn't eat her
Del

[mullet]

Del; cat taste like raccoon, and the fur makes good string silencers.