Hunting as a Disease

I’m writing in response to your recent articles regarding the big-game cats that were hunted and killed on a ranch in Northern California. Killing animals for any reason beyond subsistence is a cruel and inhumane “sport.” What kind of pleasure can be derived from sneaking up on an unsuspecting animal and shooting it? It is particularly disturbing in this case because the cats were old, decrepit zoo animals. Some of them were “hunted” in their cages because they refused to come out.

Killing animals for pleasure is a disease that goes as far back as ancient Rome. I am ashamed of my species for the atrocities we have committed in the name of “sport.” It’s obvious to me who the real “animals” are.

GARTH W. ANDERSON

Irvine