My uncle (god rest his soul) used to be a skipper on a charter fishing boat. He fished for salmon off the Columbia River bar (among the roughest waters in the world). It was from him that I first heard the attitude that natural predators like cougars “serve no earthly purpose.”
Being the young, environmentally-minded wildlife advocate that I was, I strongly disagreed with his viewpoint on many occasions. But, being respectful of my relatives, especially my elders, I never gave him a hard time for his outdated thinking.
A lot of good that did me. Now that I’m an uncle, my young nephew shows me nothing of the respect I gave my uncle. Although he’s three generations removed from my uncle’s era, some of my nephew’s thinking is as outdated as that of any other commercial fisherman I have known (and there have been all too many). Apparently he’s been following this blog, but like other animal exploiters who try to comment, he neglected to read the “About” page, which would have informed him that anti-animal comments would not be approved.
But here are few extracts from comments he tried to leave today: “… what exactly is the solution? Stop eating cows all together, stop allowing them to breed, and make them go extinct?” or “…get off your high horse. [again, remember that this is his uncle he’s talking to] Saying that veal exists because of the dairy industry is a logical fallacy akin to: crime exists because of the existence of police officers. Veal exists because people want to eat veal. Do you honestly think that if we got rid of all dairy consumption tomorrow, no one would be able to buy veal?! On the flip side, if no one on earth was willing to buy veal, do you think that ranchers would still produce it?!”
I’m not sure what point he was trying to get across with that comment, but his clincher was: “If we were all to stop fishing tomorrow then a lot of sea lions would die.”
I might not have been a perfect example for my nephew over the years, but at least I try to learn from my mistakes.
Text and Wildlife Photography © Jim Robertson
Exposing the Big Game 
I hope your nephew learns one day
If I’ve learned one thing it’s that you can’t teach anything new to people who think they already know it all.
I used to fish, eat meat and do other things I now regret. Some people refuse to admit they were ever wrong about anything. It must be nice to be so full of conceit.
Yes. People tell me that, now that I am in my 50’s, I am stuck in my ways and not open to learning. In my view, your ability to learn is a function of your mind, not your age.
My friend has a nephew that got involved with a girl whose brothers hunt. Next thing you knew, the nephew was hunting too. So much for that nephew. My friend cherishes the amicable and mutually respectful relationship he shares with the deer, turkeys, javelina, squirrels, and other neighbors who share his habitat. The enemy of his friends is his enemy. Why continue contact with a psychopath that happens to share some genes?
I agree,
Jim: it sounds like your blog has hit a nerve with him–good! This is what I said recently on another blog (Care2) when a flesh eater tried to justify her addiction, calling me names, and generally being stupid. Just because someone is in the biological tree of one’s “family” doesn’t mean we have much in common with them, right? I have two red-neck, (now chronically ill) cousins, I have never seen since I was a child visiting in Iowa. I did hear, however, about their yearly jaunts to Canada to hunt bear. My aunt said their wives complained about the bear meat being brought home, and spoiled. My answer was: if those wives were stupid enough to marry them, knowing they were animal killers, serves them right.” This idea of “family” is overblown anyway. So many people I know,( and I am sure I am not alone in this), have terrible times when with family members. The question we have to ask ourselves is: If this person were not in the family, would I even bother talking, being with them? It is too bad about your nephew. Maybe, if he continues to see your site, he will learn something, and get off the flesh addiction. Most of us have been there!
I’ve long since given up hope that family members would quit causing animal suffering with their flesh additions. Their minds are made up before even hearing the facts about what’s happening to non-humans. But other than this issue, the family gets along pretty well and visits one another more than most. Some people just like to argue, but luckily I can’t hear very well anyway.