What was he thinking?

[mbarker]

Sigh. I guess I shouldn't be surprised. The news here in Japan this morning included the arrest of a 39-year-old man in Nara. Apparently he had been caught trying to shoot a deer with a crossbow.

Not exactly sport hunting, since the deer in Nara are practically pets, happy to eat from anyone's hand (happy? They charge you and mob you if they think you have food) and quite willing to let you pet them. This isn't hunting by any stretch of the imagination.

He allegedly told police that he was going to sell the meat, that people were offering high prices for deer meat. So he didn't even plan to eat the meat himself, he was just trying to make money... Of course, I wonder whether people would just buy steaks without any hint as to where they came from? I mean, do you sell your venison under-the-table, on the internet, or where?

Comments

[dialyn.livejournal.com]

There are some people here who put exotic animals in very small cages and then shoot them, and they videotape it so other people can view the "sport." It is beyond me what is the sport about that. I'd love to put these "sports" in the small cage with the exotic animal and see how brave they are without their guns and bows. It is sickening what some people see as entertainment.

[mbarker.livejournal.com]

Actually, thinking about it, that would make more sense than the story of "hunting" the deer with a crossbow to sell the meat. I mean, if I was going to kill one of those deer, I'd use a knife. Hold out your hand with a cookie, they'd walk up, and you could kill them. Why bother with a crossbow?

[dialyn.livejournal.com]

I think the guy feels like hot stuff with a crossbow. It gives him a false feeling of being Robin Hood, that kind of thing. I guess I don't understand killing something that is helpless or trusting and thinking that is "sport." But there are a lot of things I don't understand. :( That's the problem with getting older...the things you understand are a shorter list than when you are younger.