Culling and Animal Conservation

What culling is? It is the removal by selective killing of old, sick or weak animals from a flock or herd. If these are permitted to remain alive, they will compete with healthier animals for food and resources. [2] There are two kinds of culling. One is human culling while the other one is natural culling. [3] The weak animals will be culled by nature, keeping the number of animals in harmony with the environment. That is natural culling. But sometimes a group of animals will grow so large that they use up their food resources and are forced to compete with humankind. In this situation, some will introduce human culling. Of course, some strongly reject it. [1] In this article, I am going to what are the arguments given by the supporting and opposing groups.

Many people supports culling. These people include farmers in Australia and Africa, [13], and hunters in Australia [10], certain governments like the Australian [11] as well as the conservationists when culling is scientifically justified. [14] They support culling because it can eliminate pests which compete with domestic animals. In Australia, kangaroos are allowed to be killed in limit because they eat the grass necessary for sheep. [4] Resources are not only for animals but also for human beings. Culling is a prevention of competition with human for resources. The African elephant is a good example. [9] Moreover, culling is also a prevention of destruction of commercially valuable animals or products. In Canada, whitecoat harp seals-fish are blamed for eating cod and destroying commercial fish stock. [5] Culling is also a prevention of endangerment to own habitat or natural food supplies. The African elephant is an example. [6] Culling, as some may argue, is a prevention of destruction of natural environment. Red deer in Scotland eat the leaves and bark of young native trees. [7] Furthermore, culling also brings huge economic profit, which forms another supporting argument. For the case in Australia, killing of kangaroos supports a huge and profitable industry for Australia. [8]

However, some people, like the conservationists, [23] hold another view. They oppose culling. The International Fund for Animal Welfare is a veteran group in this side. . The general public also opposes culling as indicated in public opinion polls. [24] Actually some farmers in Scotland oppose culling as well. [25] First, culling is cruel. Killing elephants in Africa for ivory make them suffer greatly. [15] Culling will also lead to extinction of animals. The African elephants are facing this problem. [20] Animals actually do not take too much resource. As the care in Australia, independent scientific sources confirm that kangaroos actually do not compete with sheep for vegetation except in times of drought. [17] There is also an erroneous notion of destruction of commercially-valuable animals. Decline of fish stock is caused by over fishing rather than seals-cod. [18] The zoologist also believes that natural culling is better than human culling. Like the case in Scotland, it would be more efficient to use wolves to control the red deer but actually natural culling may kill the wrong animals. Wolves kill sheep but not deer in many cases. [22] What’s more, it is senseless due to lack of market of luxurious nature of the associated products. In Canada, an independent study reveals that 70% of the Canadians oppose killing baby seals while 69% say that products made from seal fur are unnecessary luxuries. [16] In addition, there are profitable alternatives to culling, for example, seal-watching. Culling is not necessary. [19] Actually, human culling causes great problems. It is labour intensive and time consuming. The cost is not small. [21] Based on the above arguments, the conservationists strongly oppose culling.

All in all, the conservationists strongly oppose culling. On the other hand, the opposite group thinks that culling is necessary for the lives of human being as well as the economy. Culling is a controversial issue.