An ostentation of dead animals romanticizes hunting and taxidermy
Last week we went to the new shopping area being built about two miles from our neighborhood. Three of the stores had just recently opened. We actually shopped in one of them and since we were there walked down to have a look at the other two. The one in the photo is a sporting goods store. Along with clothes, camping paraphernalia, fishing and hunting gear there are at least 500 taxidermist-prepared animals stationed around the store--some full-bodied specimens and some trophy-mounted heads.
Maybe I'm being over-critical here but the sheer commercialism of nature completely overwhelmed me. I did enjoy the waterfall pool with trout, catfish and other fish species swimming around. I love nature. I grew up on a farm and remember the taste of cottontail rabbit that my step dad shot for dinner. I am not opposed to hunting overpopulated animals with a license. However, I do remember something about Arctic wolves and U.S. grizzly bears (at least in the lower 48) being endangered. Maybe they were grizzlies with improper documentation? Maybe the latest downgrade of environmental protection laws gave sporting goods corporations license to hunt and display them as long as they could be written off as a cost of doing business.
I am sure that all of this is technically legal, but that doesn't quiet my inner rumblings that somehow the values are skewed.
Posted by: PJ | January 23, 2006 at 11:02 AM