I am writing today to…

I am writing today to express my outrage about the training and trialing compounds proposal. Prior to a couple of weeks ago, I had no knowledge of the existence of something so violent. I then watched videos and learned about, yet another act of violence against nonhuman animals, as if there aren’t enough already. The war on coyotes already runs 365 days a year which is horrifying as is that we continue to fail to want to coexist with free living beings. Foxes are often bred and kept on fur farms so they are victims as well in a multitude of ways and now this. Rabbits and hares are small individuals and have literally no chance of escaping, why is the government bending to the hunting community to perpetuate continued violence against sentient beings who have every right to exist, just like you and I. Dogs are victims too in this scenario. The breeding of dogs in general is already a significant issue as it’s exploitive and so unnecessary, but people deliberately go out and buy dogs in what seems like a deliberate choice to use them to become aggressive and perhaps as a "scapegoat" to the harmful desire of hunters to kill defenseless being. Dogs have no need to hunt down other beings in no way, shape or form. Many dogs are at risk of euthanasia for behavioural concerns, yet we are putting them in situations where we see a side of them we are digging out for vile purposes. Dogs can be given opportunities for enrichment, exercise and stimulation without making them prey on innocent individuals. The argument that the dogs are “bred for this” is just an excuse to try to justify this horror perpetrated by humans. Stop buying dogs number one and don’t buy dogs who have high prey drives when you are using them to harm other animals. Dogs can be given ways to fulfill instinctual needs without raging a battle against other animals who suffer terribly because the humans seek out power, control and domination over everyone and everything they can get their hands on.

I truly have no idea what goes on in the minds of government and these decision makers outside of the very dark reality, which is that hunters press the powers that be to bow down to them and their selfish and disturbing demands that continue to harm animals, tear families apart as often coyote and fox kits are left behind when their mothers are caught in traps and used to have dogs tear them to shreds. We are harming the dogs by putting them in horrific situations and run the risk of additional behavioural concerns that could possibly arise as a result of this bloodbath. We are harming and terrifying coyotes, foxes, rabbits and hares for no reason other than satisfying some sort of psychopathic high that very few humans get off of by watching and allowing a sentient being from being heinously brutalized. I’m sure the hunters would not want this to happen to them, but alas, when it is the other way around and free living beings like coyotes get to dogs or humans, the authorities hunt down the animal and mercilessly shoot them dead as they are considered “dangerous” and implement culling. I then ask, a nonhuman animal who lives in the wild, fends for themselves, protects and raises their young and defends themselves is killed for existing and trying to survive yet hunters can do whatever the hell they want and not be considered a danger to society and the beings we share it with, how does that work? There is something very, very wrong with this picture.

Human behaviour has a history of wreaking havoc on the natural world, from feeding free living beings which leads to their demise to forcing dogs on free living beings for no valid or justifiable reason and causing horrific suffering and pain. As a young person who has seen countless instances of humans repeatedly screwing up when it comes to coexisting, respecting and ultimately letting these animals just live their lives, it is gravely concerning and utterly hopeless that those who should be working at protecting, conserving and doing better – we continue to take decades worth of steps backwards and failing again and again to truly evolve.