Description
Many people hold firm opinions about hunting. The Press thrives on stirring them up, pitting pros and antis against one another in polarized ‘debates’ that go nowhere. However one defines hunting, most of us are implicated, if only in paying people to kill animals that eat our vegetarian crops. Is it all about animal welfare – whatever that may be – or about human cruelty? What drives humans and other predators to hunt? Is it ‘wrong’? Is it ‘immoral’? What are morals, who decides them and who is in a position to tell others what they should do? When a scientist trespasses on the preserves of philosophers morality takes on a very different aspect, stemming from evolution and our animal natures and permeating into all aspects of our everyday lives. This book is suitable both for professors and their students, and for people looking for a ‘frank exchange of views’ over a drink. Be prepared to find your cherished beliefs shattered and the moral high ground you thought you were on starting to quake.
‘A brave, extraordinary and important book that confronts the most difficult discussions around hunting head on.’
Chris Packham CBE, Wildlife Presenter.
‘Rarely has the complex subject of hunting ethics been tackled in such a thoughtful and detailed way. Everyone will have their own views on the emotive topics that are discussed in this book. Nick Fox draws on a lifetime of practical and academic experience to provide an informed perspective that will offer new insights to develop the thinking and attitudes of people and societies who previously might have held strong or entrenched simplistic views on often nuanced issues.’
Dr Roger Draycott, Director of Advisory and Education, Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust, UK.
‘Dr. Fox pulls from every recess of his lived and learned experiences as a zoologist, falconer, and farmer in this unique and comprehensive look into one of the most fundamental relationships on earth—predator and prey. As a life-long hunter, he lays bare his own moral journey against a backdrop of well-researched science, making the ethical considerations he conjures, accessible to hunters and non-hunters alike. Readers will be better prepared to reconcile their own relationship to hunting and hunters.’
Steve Swenson, Aldo Leopold Foundation, USA.
‘The reader of this book, no matter how good his education in science, and no matter how long his contemplation of its subject, will gain new insights into the primal behaviour that we call hunting.’
David Renny MRCVS, Chairman, Veterinary Association for Wildlife Management.
- No special jargon and an easy read.
- Peer reviewed by eight specialists.
- Over 1100 references, 324 pages, 143 photos, 34 figures and 7 tables.
