Ways Hunting is Bad for the Environment
Some people may claim that hunting is barbaric and the killing of animals is wrong. Hunting has been around since humans first evolved. Wikipedia describes hunting as the practice of pursing any living thing for food, trade, or recreation.
Humans have removed most of the natural predators from a given environment in the United States. So humans have to fulfill this niche.
Poaching is done outside of established management practices. It can take too many of any given species throwing the ecology of out balance. This will have a trickle down effect to most species.
Some hunters use the same caliber rifle no matter what animal they are hunting. If the firearm is too small for the game, the hunter may not be sure of his shot and miss the target. This can cause the injured game to go off and suffer needlessly. Since the animal was not properly harvested it can die in a waterhole. This can poison the water source for other animals.
Other hunters may use screw in tree steps. These steps penetrate the bark in the tree. Bark is the first line of defense for a tree against insects and other diseases.
Waterfowl hunting with lead shots can be one of the biggest threats to the environment when hunting. Any shot that does not hit a bird will fall to the bottom of the lake or water source. Since waterfowl eat gravel they can easily pick the lead shot as food. This could cause lead poisoning in the bird or depending on the amount of lead and the size of the waterhole, lead poisoning can occur in the water. Once the birds are finally eaten by other predators, the poisoning can move on up the food chain.
Hunting can cause a loss in biological diversity. It also have the potential to have an effect of genetic integrity and ecological balance of animals.The hits keep comin-: Toxic Lead to Cover Iowa Killing Fields