This weekend, the “International Hunting and Shooting Days” are taking place at Grünau Castle. The fair attracts hobby hunters and interested parties with hunting dog demonstrations, birds of prey displays, and numerous exhibitors. The animal rights organization PETA is sharply criticizing the event and calling for an end to so-called hobby hunting.
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According to the organization, hunters in Germany kill more than five million wild animals every year, as well as an estimated 200,000 cats and numerous dogs – mostly for recreational purposes or under the slogan “closeness to nature.”
According to PETA, hunting fairs like the one in Neuburg trivialize the violent treatment of wild animals and serve to promote a “deadly hobby.”
PETA is particularly critical of the participation of Bavaria’s Minister of Economic Affairs, Hubert Aiwanger , who is announced with a welcoming address on the fair’s website.
State Minister Hubert Aiwanger’s lobbying for a bloody and cruel hobby is shameful, said PETA expert Peter Höffken. Furthermore, numerous dogs and wild birds are exposed to the stress of exhibitions.
To justify its call for a ban on recreational hunting, the organization points to scientific findings that animal populations regulate themselves without human intervention. They argue that hunting destroys social structures in animal populations and can have the opposite of the desired effect. PETA also points to the risk of hunting accidents.
The trade fair organizers, however, regularly emphasize the contribution of hunting to species conservation and the maintenance of the cultural landscape.
Exposing the Big Game 