Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end

[lizblackdog]

So I was talking to deathwokclan, and I go to Youtube to show her the Spike tuggy video. And while I'm there, I'm distracted by a National Geographic video of an eagle hunting a chevrotain, and then it occurs to me that I could do a Youtube search for "falconry", and I wonder why I never thought of it before. I'm not usually so slow to find new ways to torture myself.

Edited to add:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34SO5LbZx3s

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_M2OLYG694Q - includes working ferrets.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EnWeN02DLmU

These killed me. They're English. I might even have met the guy, though I can't tell. Don't click the first two if you have a problem with furry mammal death. This isn't a display at a fair, it's the real thing. That was my life. Third one is a redtail, which is what mine was.

Comments

[silverblaidd.livejournal.com]

Well... at least you're not participating in the unnecessary deaths of animals anymore?

Or were you? I'm tryin' to look on the bright side, here.

[lizblackdog.livejournal.com]

You mean the free-range grass-reared rabbit the hawk and ferrets lived on?

I'm - I don't want to apologise or defend myself. But it's a clean death under fair conditions and they have a better than 50% chance of getting away clean. I didn't feel I was doing wrong then and I don't now. And I did, and do, think about it.

[silverblaidd.livejournal.com]

Those'd be the ones I mean, yep.

I'm certainly not asking you to defend yourself or apologize. As I said, I'm trying to find a bright side.

I, personally, am not sure what the difference is between that, and, say, fox hunting, or live feeding a snake in an area where the prey can in fact escape. I know with fox hunting, the prey has a chance to escape, and it's a wild animal that has lived a natural life. Agreeing with the practice doesn't always hinge on those two things, though. ;)

[lizblackdog.livejournal.com]

I was always uneasy about fox hunting, because you don't eat foxes. I'm not prepared to kill anything I don't use. I've also never live-fed a snake (I did have one for a short time, once).

I suppose I look at it like this: hawks and ferrets are obligate carnivores; something will always have to die for them to eat, whether it's day-old chicks or frozen mice or wild rabbits. We weren't killing hundreds of rabbits, we never wasted so much as a bone or scrap of skin. And we were enjoying it. I won't fudge or evade that. But the deaths happened in a way I could live with. I still could, if I currently had a life I could fit keeping a hawk into.

[silverblaidd.livejournal.com]

I can certainly see enjoying it. I'm cursed with the unfortunate thrill of hunting - the tracking/chasing, finding, and killing is thrilling as hell. No doubt, I'd be damn good at it too, as I did a stint with a camera and wildlife when I was a kid. I just happen to be morally opposed to killing shit for no (reallyreallyreallyexceptionally) good reason. Even if it's people, unfortunately. For some reason. Despite my intense dislike for the vast majority. But I digress.

Dogs are carnivores and generally, they eat the fox (to death). If that doesn't happen, it's shot. I agree that fox isn't generally considered a human food source, which is one fairly distinct difference. However, it's still unnecessary. It's still for the fun of it. And it's still not for anyone's survival.

But now we're talking in IM's anyway, so I'll shut my yap.

[mcsassypants.livejournal.com]

Heh. I supposed that's what I get for not reading the part about not watching the first two if you have a problem with "furry mammal death".
Although, honestly, I didn't really have a problem with most of it, it's just that my little vegetarian soul rebelled a little at the neck breaking part in the second video. I have a better opinion of people who use domesticated animals for working purposes than I do of the people who would prefer to dress them up in clothes and pretend that they're just furry little humans. At least the hawk and the ferrets were having fun doing what they do naturally.

[lizblackdog.livejournal.com]

Thanks :)

I can't call dressing ferrets up "cruelty", but I admit my soul always dies a little to see it. It feels to me like very much missing the point.

[mcsassypants.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I agree with you. It's not cruel, it's just...blech.

WOW.

[saltwaterscream.livejournal.com]

That's freaking *amazing*.

Birds of prey are so beautiful, and so smart. I was at a field test recently, for pointing dogs. It was actually the most ridiculous set-up I've ever seen - basically just a big, bare pasture with trees around the outside. The dogs were taken through a specific route completely devoid of birds before reaching the actual (tiny) bird field, which was more bare pasture, about half an acre in size, and loaded with planted birds. Stupid as hell for these sorts of dogs, but excellent for the eagles and hawks, who would lazily swoop in at the planted birds every once in a while for an easy meal while the dog and its handler and the judge wandered around uselessly in the course before the bird field. It was quite cool to see. The hawks were better at it than the eagles, though. Even though the prey was pretty much stationary, the eagles had more unsuccessful dives than the hawks.

Anyway, end ridiculousy random rambling. :) Thanks for sharing, those are videos are cool.

Re: WOW.

[lizblackdog.livejournal.com]

That description reminds me of a spot we used to hunt - there was a small shallow pond in the middle of a big bare field, with a few trees and bushes round it. We didn't have a dog, but if we put the hawk up in one of the trees and beat the bushes something nearly always ran out. That was where Camilla caught her only pheasant.

We'd have caught a lot more if we'd been working with a dog, only I couldn't have one then. I should have looked for some dog work in the videos - most falconers have GSPs or something along those lines.