The images
in the following program
are very sensitive
and may be
as disturbing to viewers
as they were to us.
However,
we have to show the truth
about cruelty to animals,
praying that
you will help to stop it.
This is the
Stop Animal Cruelty series
on Supreme Master
Television
where this week
we examine the heartless
and unconscionable practice
of hunting wildlife.
The US-based
non-profit organization,
In Defense of Animals’
(IDA’s) stated mission is
“to end animal exploitation,
cruelty, and abuse
by protecting and
advocating for the rights,
welfare, and habitats
of animals, as well as
to raise their status
beyond mere property,
commodities, or things.”
Since 1983
this group has been a leader
in animal protection,
including in the area
of halting the murder
of wildlife.
Over the years
In Defense of Animals
has stopped bow hunting
of the Tule Elk
and killing of peacocks
at Point Reyes
National Seashore, a park
in California, USA,
halted a planned
aerial killing of wolves
in Alaska, USA,
prevented a buffalo hunt
from going forward
in New Mexico, USA,
caused the cancellation
of a hunting competition
that would have meant
the deaths of up to 1,000
bobcats, coyotes,
cougars, and foxes
in a single weekend
in Arizona, USA,
and successfully halted
a bear hunt
in New Jersey, USA.
Today’s program features
excerpts from an episode
of the In Defense
of Animals-produced
television series
“Undercover TV”
entitled “What’s Wrong
With Hunting?”
Undercover TV is hosted
by Mr. Kenneth G. Williams,
a vegan
professional body builder
from the United States
and a spokesperson for
In Defense of Animals’s
veganism campaign.
This superb athlete
made sports history
in 2004,
when he won third place
at the prestigious
Natural Olympia
bodybuilding competition
in Las Vegas, USA and
became the first vegan
bodybuilding champion
in the United States.
Let us now watch
selected segments from
“What’s Wrong
With Hunting?”
Welcome to
Undercover TV.
Today we have a special
presentation of the video,
“What’s Wrong
With Hunting?”
This video exposes
the animal cruelty that
occurs during hunting.
Some of the images
are graphic
and viewer discretion
is advised.
Hi, I’m Marv Levy.
I’ve often been asked
if hunting is a sport
since I engage in
what I consider
to be a sport also.
During the course
of this video, I’d like
to address that subject.
What’s Wrong
With Hunting?
Hey angel, consider…
It is not right to go out
and kill an animal
purely for the sport of it.
These animals swim.
They play. They breathe.
They have young, they love.
How can you kill that?
How can you kill it?
So why don’t you go hiking?
Why don’t you go camping?
Why don’t you go out and
have fun and track animals
but not kill them,
not take the gun?
You believe in
the ten commandments
right?
One of those is
“Thou shall not kill.”
And all the hunters said
that they enjoy nature
and they enjoy wildlife.
Well,
how are we supposed to
enjoy nature and wildlife
in the future
if we kill it all?
Well, what makes a sport
is one, first and foremost,
the sides are even.
You’re playing
on a level playing field.
The people
participating in it
want to do it, both sides
of the line of scrimmage.
Well, I’ve often heard
people saying, “You know,
football’s a violent game
so how is that different
from hunting?”
Well, it’s different
in any number of ways.
First of all,
as I said before,
the participants
want to be in it.
They’re conditioned for it
and it’s a game.
And when it’s over, if
you’re in good condition,
your chances of
walking off in good shape
are excellent and
you play again another day.
Only the hunter has
the chance of walking off
the hunting field healthy.
The animal is dead forever.
I think a sport is
two teams competing for
the same thing – to win
and to be number one.
And that’s what everybody
in professional sports
is striving to be - the best
and to be number one.
As far as hunting,
to kill an animal,
how can you consider
that being number one
when you killed something?
I don’t consider
hunting a sport,
I consider it murder.
I think people see change.
Other people
don’t want to see it and
they see that as being
a part of their heritage.
People like me are insisting
that they stop.
And they say,
“Well, all animals
eat other animals.
That’s natural,
that’s a way of life.
So why shouldn’t we?”
And I answer
with a simple statement,
“We’re the only animal
that has a choice.”
Hunters represent only
six percent of Americans,
yet they control almost
100% of our wildlife.
And a lot of people
support hunting because
they’ve been conditioned
to hear the hunter’s myths,
of “Oh, we’ve got to hunt
or the deer are going to
starve and overpopulate.”
And you know,
“We have to hunt to survive
and it’s a tradition.”
But as people start
to explore those issues,
you’re going
to have more people in
the camp of compassion
than thinking, bringing
a violent end to an animal
as something positive.
The problem is
the average person hears
the sound bite
from the hunter,
“Deer are overpopulated
and are going to starve
to death if we don’t go out
and kill them.”
And in reality,
the explanations
that wildlife biologists
need to give,
the responsible ones,
take a lot more time than
appear in a sound bite
on the ten o’clock news.
Sometimes what people
mean when they say
“overpopulation” is that
there are too many animals
on a given piece of land.
But most often
what they mean
by overpopulation
is they don’t like the impact
a particular animal
is having on their land,
their home, their property.
Hunting leads to
overpopulation and
it sounds counter-intuitive,
but the way it works is
when you hunt a population,
what you do, you end up
reducing it temporarily.
And all wildlife
populations have
a reproduction response
based on the available
food resources.
So when they have
more food, they tend
to have more offspring,
and they breed
at an earlier age.
When they have less food,
they tend to not breed
so quickly, they tend
to have less offspring
and sometimes they
even re-absorb fetuses
when times are very hard.
So what happens
after hunting seasons,
suddenly the remaining
animals have more food,
they tend
to have more offspring
the following spring
and suddenly
the population rebounds
and you’ve actually
triggered growth
in the populations
because of hunting.
Say you have
a population of 10 deer,
and normally you’d have
five females and five males
in this population,
a very simplistic model.
So say it was a good year,
the highest number of
fawns that could be born
in that population of ten,
if there were five females,
would be 10 offspring,
which would be assuming
that every one
of those females
was breeding age
and had twins.
But say then you turned
to a hunted population,
again you have
a population of 10.
But in that population,
so many males
have been taken out that
you have nine females
for every male.
So in that population,
that one male can mate
with all nine females
and have as much as
eighteen fawns,
which is a lot more
than in the normal
un-hunted population.
The idea
that if we don’t hunt them
they’re going to starve,
is based on
some faulty assumptions,
because first of all,
we don’t even know
how many deer might
starve in a given winter.
We don’t know that
the ones we’re taking out
are necessarily the ones
that would have starved.
And again
I think it’s always best to
let nature take its course.
The ones that will starve
will be the ones
that are less fit
to get through the winter.
And the one’s that remain
are going to be the ones
that are better fit
and should be
passing on their genes.
It’s hypocritical
for state wildlife agencies
to use the deer-vehicle
collision argument
to support hunting
because the agency,
their entire goal is to
literally grow more wildlife
for hunters to shoot.
They use various techniques
to do that.
They’ll manipulate
the sex ratio of the species
in question, most cases
white-tailed deer.
They will modify the habitat
to increase productivity
in the deer population.
So there are
more deer out there
and they’re reproducing
more and more each year.
So there’s more animals
for the hunters to shoot.
To do that on one hand,
but then to come out
and say, “We need
to shoot these deer
because there’s too many
that are hitting cars, or
cars are hitting too many,”
is extremely hypocritical
because they’re
creating the situation.
The bison is
a perfect example
of a species that we
nearly hunted to extinction.
These animals
were plentiful
across North America
until the US government
decided to have
an all-out war
against the bison.
And they are very few
in number today;
most of them
who still survive
are in Yellowstone
National Park, where
they are safe from hunting.
But unfortunately
if they leave that park
and walk into the state of
Montana (USA)
or Wyoming (USA),
they’re gunned down.
You know
it’s just a perfect example
of an animal that is killed
for no other reason
than a trophy.
Someone wants to
take home their head and
hang it over a fireplace.
These are mallard ducks
and there are some geese
behind us as well.
And these and many
other types of waterfowl
are hunted very frequently.
There are about
six million ducks
that are killed every year
in the US by hunters.
We’ve got foxes here
in this pen, and luckily
for these foxes
they’re safe here
at the Fund
for Animals Sanctuary.
But in the wild, foxes are
one of the few species
that are both hunted
and trapped.
They’re allowed
to be killed both with guns
or with steel-jaw
leghold traps or snares
or other types of traps.
In some states, there are
no bag limits and
no season dates on foxes.
They’re allowed
to kill them year round
with absolutely
no regulations.
Hunting is barbaric
and wrong.
The animals
that are preyed upon
by the hunters
are gentle and
want nothing but peace
for themselves
and their families.
Let humanity
now turn a new page and
halt hunting permanently.
Let us also embrace
the loving, caring
and nourishing
organic vegan lifestyle
as it is the best way
to ensure
a harmonious world
where all beings are equal.
Many thanks
In Defense of Animals
as well as Kenneth Williams
and all others
appearing in this video
for sincerely seeking an end
to the senseless slaughter
of our innocent
animal co-inhabitants.
Through our life-affirming
collective efforts,
may all beings soon live
in peace and harmony
on our shared Earth.
For more details on
In Defense of Animals,
please visit
www.IDAUSA.org
A DVD of
Undercover TV episodes
is available
at the same website
Thank you
for your company
on today’s program.
Please join us
next Tuesday
on Stop Animal Cruelty
for further excerpts from
“What’s Wrong
With Hunting?”
Coming up next is
Enlightening Entertainment,
following
Noteworthy News.
May every animal always
be treated with respect
and cherished
as a family member.
The images
in the following program
are highly sensitive
and may be
as disturbing to viewers
as they were to us.
However,
we have to show the truth
about cruelty to animals,
praying that
you will help to stop it.
This is the
Stop Animal Cruelty series
on Supreme Master
Television.
This week is
the second and final part
of two-part program
on the appalling practice
of hunting wildlife.
The US-based
non-profit organization,
In Defense of Animals’
(IDA’s) stated mission is
“to end animal exploitation,
cruelty, and abuse
by protecting and
advocating for the rights,
welfare, and habitats
of animals, as well as
to raise their status
beyond mere property,
commodities, or things.”
Since 1983
this group has been a leader
in animal protection,
including in the area
of halting the murder
of wildlife.
Over the years
In Defense of Animals
has stopped bow hunting
of the Tule Elk
and killing of peacocks
at Point Reyes
National Seashore, a park
in California, USA,
halted a planned
aerial killing of wolves
in Alaska, USA,
prevented a buffalo hunt
from going forward
in New Mexico, USA,
caused the cancellation
of a hunting competition
that would have meant
the deaths of up to 1,000
bobcats, coyotes,
cougars, and foxes
in a single weekend
in Arizona, USA,
and successfully halted
a bear hunt
in New Jersey, USA.
Today’s program features
further excerpts
from an episode
of the In Defense
of Animals-produced
television series
“Undercover TV”
entitled “What’s Wrong
With Hunting?”
Undercover TV is hosted
by Mr. Kenneth G. Williams,
a vegan
professional body builder
from the United States
and a spokesperson for
In Defense of Animals’
veganism campaign.
This superb athlete
made sports history
in 2004,
when he won third place
at the prestigious
Natural Olympia
bodybuilding competition
in Las Vegas, USA and
became the first vegan
bodybuilding champion
in the United States.
Welcome to
Undercover TV.
Today we have a special
presentation of the video,
“What’s Wrong
With Hunting?”
This video exposes
the animal cruelty that
occurs during hunting.
Some of the images
are graphic
and viewer discretion
is advised.
If you look at the way
that hunting language
is used, even that is
brainwashing because
when you have a hunter
talking about
culling, harvesting,
what they’re really doing
is they’re killing
a living being.
They’re not
harvesting a crop.
But if you use
that type of language,
that’s going to then
take away that animal’s
personality in your mind.
And so it’s to their
advantage to make us
think of animals as things.
Animals aren’t things.
If you look at
pain receptors, which
are called “nociceptors”
from Latin,
in any animal,
a non-human animal as
well as a human animal,
anatomically
and physiologically
they’re identical –
same chemistry,
same wave transmission,
same sending impulses
up the leg or up the arm.
So if the receptors
are the same and
the chemistry is the same,
we can assume
that pretty much the same
impact is perceived.
The other thing is logically,
think what pain
is telling you.
Again,
pain is to be interpreted
as such an overriding
negative stimulus that
you respond to the pain
before you have time
to think about it.
If it were not
that negative a stimulus,
then the species
wouldn’t survive.
I really don’t think
that our pain is
any more significant to us
than the animal’s pain
is to that animal.
We may be dealing
with a different frame
of reference,
my philosophical or
experiential background
may be different than
a beaver’s and marten’s,
but still the pain and terror
that I might feel
because of a serious injury
or a terrifying experience
are the worst
and biggest things
in my consciousness.
Similarly,
the pain and terror
for that beaver and marten
is the worst
in their experience
of their consciousness.
The very first operation
that I ever remember,
we had a red-tailed hawk
brought in to us,
and it had been shot.
Now there’s no way
you can shoot
a red-tailed hawk legally.
It’s a protected species,
it’s a migratory species,
protected under
international law,
protected under
federal law,
protected under state law,
there are incredible fines
associated with (hurting) it.
This one had been
brought in and
it had a shattered elbow.
And so we put it down
on the table and
the kids gathered around
because that’s how we do it;
we do it
right in the classroom
and we had
the operating table there.
They began to assist me
and I was assisting them.
And a little red haired girl,
her name was
Jenny Lynch,
she was assisting me
on the left side.
She was holding
some sutures.
And as we got into that,
trying to repair
that shattered elbow,
Jenny looked up at me
and she said,
“How could anybody
try and kill something
that beautiful?”
Well,
I was a very intelligent,
very gifted science teacher;
and very gifted,
intelligent science teachers
know everything.
So I looked down at her,
at Jenny, and I said,
“Jenny, that’s just the way
the world is.”
What bothered me
was the answer
that I gave Jenny,
“That’s just the way
the world is,” which
I look back at that now
was an indictment
of the world,
that’s not the way
the world is.
We are better than that.
We are better than
creatures that simply
go out in the woods,
armed with a gun,
and shoot something
from ambush
just for pleasure.
That is not
how I see humanity,
not how I see
the human race.
Hunters hide and shoot
from ambush.
In the old West,
they had a name
for people who shot
from the ambush,
they called them
“bushwhackers.”
And there was
no lower form of life
in the West
than a bushwhacker.
Hunting is bushwhacking.
If someone I loved
wanted to go hunting,
the first thing I’d do
is ask them why?
Why are they
going hunting?
And the people
who go sport hunting,
they do it for the fun of it.
And I guess because
they think it’s macho
and they have something
to prove.
Anybody who thinks that
they’re more of a man
because they carry a gun
and shoot some animal
that doesn’t even know
they’re there, sorry it just
doesn’t wash with me.
I think a lot of women
feel that way in terms of
you’re not more sexy
or more manly
because you’re able to
shoot something.
There is much more
honor and courage
to saving a life
than to taking one,
that’s the bottom line.
And when you’re
taking a life
for the fun of it,
there’s no honor in that
and there’s no courage
whatsoever.
We are, and we do
what we’re taught.
And we are not,
and we do not do
what we are not taught.
And that’s the reason
why I’m a teacher.
And that’s the reason
why everybody
has got to be a teacher.
Now I have a great hope
that kids are going
to begin to teach kids,
and I’ve seen that
happening a lot.
I see that with my kids,
they teach their parents,
they teach other kids.
And I tell you what,
they’re a lot more honest
than when I went to school.
Seventh graders
know more than
some people in their 60’s
about what’s wrong
with the world
and what we need to do,
and things
that we need to make
in the way of changes
in our life,
whether it’s our diet
or how we treat our own
suburban back lawn –
chemical lawn treatment
versus backyard habitat.
They’re so much more
aware than people who
are 30, 40, 50 years older.
And if they’re starting
with that awareness
at such a young age,
my hope is that
we can build on that and
end up with something
very positive
in the next generation.
The children of
Rosewood, Oregon (USA)
were brought to
Washington. DC (USA).
A whole class,
by their teacher, and that
teacher brought these kids
to go into the offices
of the Congressman
not just from Oregon,
but all over.
And that was
the main reason;
one of the biggest bills
ever passed for animals
was passed because
about two dozen kids
from one little school
in Oregon
went to Washington DC
and made such a fuss.
A lot of families have
dogs and cats and
those are animals also.
And if they can see
their own pets at home,
the way
as they see the wildlife
that’s out in nature,
the same way, and
have the same respect,
I think they could
be able to get it.
They have every right
to be here
as much as we do.
Nature is just such a prize
that was given to us,
and I think we really
take it for granted.
Next time you’ve got
your cat or your dog
on your lap, and you’re
sitting there petting them,
think about them, and
what you feel about them.
And then think about her.
What really is
the difference?
I don’t want you to do
something cowardly,
and I think
hunting is a cowardly act.
I want you to do
something heroic.
I want you to do
something worthwhile.
I don’t want you
to go out and
deride your enjoyment
from inflicting pain
and misery and death on
another living creature.
Thanks for watching
Undercover TV.
If you would like
more information
about Undercover TV,
please visit
the In Defense of Animals
website at
IDAUSA.org
Thanks for watching.
How can we help
end hunting?
We can talk to
our friends and family
and explain why it is
wrong and inhumane
to kill wild animals
as they are gentle and kind
in nature.
Contacting our local
government officials
and expressing our desire
to ban hunting
is also important.
We can inform them
that hunting has no place
in the 21st century
as the animals
suffer grievously and that
this indefensible activity
severely disrupts
ecosystems.
Finally,
we can set an example
by following
an animal-free diet,
which is truly the mark
of reverence for all life.
Many thanks again
In Defense of Animals
as well as Kenneth Williams
and all others
appearing in
“What’s Wrong
With Hunting”
for sincerely seeking an end
to the senseless slaughter
of our innocent
animal co-inhabitants.
For more details on
In Defense of Animals,
please visit
www.IDAUSA.org
A DVD of
Undercover TV episodes
is available
at the same website
Thank you for joining us for
the Stop Animal Cruelty
program.
Coming up next is
Enlightening Entertainment,
following
Noteworthy News.
May we all love and care
for animals of all species.