Readers React: Trophy hunting won’t end unless humans stop eating other animals

To the editor: While there has been plenty of outrage expressed over the former Idaho Fish and Game commissioner who posted photos of himself with animals he had killed on a trip to Africa, few people have addressed the root of this problem.

As long as we support a culture that approves of killing animals for consumption and profit, we will have trophy hunting and other activities that harm and kill animals. To change the culture, we need to get animals out of the industrial food system.

There have been so many advances in food processing that there is really no excuse to continue to consume animals along with their eggs and milk. As long as killing these creatures is part of the industrial food chain, consumers will be guilty of murder by proxy, and hobbies such as trophy hunting will tolerated and accepted.

Brent Trafton, Long Beach

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To the editor: I got rid of my television a decade or so ago because so much of what I saw on it was discouraging and affected my mental health. Increasingly, I cut back on almost all forms of “news” consumption so that I can start each day as a pleasant person.

But I still find time for the Los Angeles Times.

The divisiveness of our political discourse, the destruction of our planet and our fascination with celebrity and wealth are particularly troublesome barriers to my daily quest for peace of mind. I do what I can to stay informed and still positive.

But the Oct. 15 print edition was particularly unsettling. The photo of a smiling hunter, posing with the entire family of baboons that he had “harvested,” is shocking even today. I will be sad forever that I saw it.

Brian Fahnestock, Santa Barbara

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To the editor: What is so disgusting is that the former Idaho Fish and Game commissioner says he showed poor judgment in posting the pictures, but he has no remorse over killing a family of baboons.

Killing for the sake of killing is wrong. This man’s position should have put him at the forefront of protecting animals, not randomly killing them.

Karen Rose, Los Angeles

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