Hunting

EF CHALLENGE SPEECH 

“Hunting is not a sport. In a sport, both sides should know they’re in the game”

-Paul Rodriguez.

Greetings and farewells to everyone. I’ll introduce myself, my name is Catherine Simmonds and I am a ninth grade student from the American school, located in Barranquilla, Colombia.

As far as we can tell, I was given the opportunity to speak and give my honest opinion about what I believe should be solved as soon as possible. I am authentically passionate about expressing to you how horrifying and scary it can actually be for the helpless, poor creatures we call animals to live always threatened and endangered every single day of their short lives, every minute, every second. Even right now, as I am talking, how many animals’ lives are being set an end just because of the repugnant human pleasure and entertainment? The issue begins with this, with the fun and diversion that some people on this planet obtain while doing this abominable act of massacring poor, innocent creatures.

Thanks to this, various species of animals have been endangered of extinguishing, did you know that animal species are becoming extinct at an alarmingly fast and unnatural pace? A lot of times more than it should be happening naturally. The stress that hunting inflicts on animals. The noise, the fear, and the stress of constantly being chased-severely restricts their ability to eat adequately and store the fat and energy they need to survive the winter. Hunting also changes how animals migrate and hibernate, which can lead to lower populations if they cannot do this properly. The campfires, recreational vehicles, trash, and other hunting side effects endanger both wildlife and the environment. For animals like wolves who mate for life and have close-knit family units, hunting can severely harm entire communities.

Hunting can affect the ecosystem of the animals that are being hunted all around the world. Since each ecosystem is different and unique, once an animal or living creature is endangered or extinct it makes the whole ecosystem unbalanced it basically disrupts the food chain because those species that are either barely there or extinct thanks to hunting, could be the food source of another species or the predator of another animal that might be a pest! Therefore living creatures can overpopulate as they are no longer being kept at natural levels or become extinct because of the lack of food as a result of the hunters actions.

Researchers found that hunting on average leads to an 83% reduction in mammal populations within 25 miles of hunter access points like roads and towns. The findings, published in the journal Science, come as researchers in the developing world expect hunters to gain access to new areas thanks to millions of miles of roads expected to open in the coming decades. In the study, researchers call for expanded legal protection for animal habitats and increased law enforcement focus on illegal hunting.

“Strategies to sustainably manage wild meat hunting in both

protected and unprotected tropical ecosystems are urgently needed,” said study author Ana Benítez-López, a researcher at Radboud University in the Netherlands. “This includes monitoring hunting activities by increasing anti-poaching patrols and controlling overexploitation via law enforcement.”

Of course, hunting is far from the only threat faced by vulnerable animals across the globe. Loss of habitat due to human development, invasive species and climate change have all contributed to a loss of biodiversity across the world. In turn, a loss of species diversity harms humans in a number of ways, by reducing pollination and pest control that supports agriculture and by allowing more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

And why is all of this happening? Oh, right. Because of human satisfaction.

Please, every single person listening to this. Turn your back on hunting, even if it is a “sport” it shouldn’t be done and that is the reason it is banned in several countries around the globe. Please, please, please, I cannot do this all by myself, sorrily I am not that powerful. Nevertheless, if we all start taking action in making this horrible form of “entertainment” disappear it may become a reality a world without blood for fun.

I am very thankful for your time, I hope you think about what I have said.

By CATHERINE SIMMONDS, Step 9.