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By Doris Lin, About.com Guide to Animal Rights

Toddler Killed in Hunting Accident

Monday November 17, 2008

A 16-month old girl has been killed in a hunting accident while standing inside her mobile home in Swan Lake, New York. The hunter has been arrested and charged with manslaughter, although it is unclear whether he violated any hunting regulations. According to the Times Herald-Record, Edward J. Taibi was shooting at a deer with a high-powered rifle when one of his bullets pierced the wall of the mobile home, 400 feet away, and struck 16-month-old Charly Skala in the neck and shoulder.

Hunters argue that hunting is safe and that the fatality rate for non-hunters is very low. Has it occurred to them that a sport shouldn't have a fatality rate for non-participants?

June 21, 2009 Update: Taibi has pled guilty to second-degree manslaughter.

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Comments

November 18, 2008 at 3:13 am
(1) JJ says:

A AM DOING A DEBATE ON HUNTING. IT IS REALLY DANGEROUS AND MNY ACCIDENTS HAVE BEEN CAUSED BY HUNTING.

November 18, 2008 at 11:19 pm
(2) Rob says:

Hunting is safer than nearly all other sports, i.e. football, basketball, horse racing, yes, even non-participants are injured and even killed in spectator sports. Ever been to a Soccer game in Russia? Yes, I hunt. I have never injured or killed anyone, nor do I intend to. You see, we have in this Country a thing called ignorance. Quick lesson for all you people afflicted by this malady. We have, as a whole eliminated most of the natural predators in this continent, leaving us as the stewards of the land so to speak. Hunting has been a very effective way to balance out the imbalance that our forefathers caused, as well as feed millions, read carefully…MILLIONS of families in a perfectly legal, well regulated manner. If you idiots would rather transplant the large predators back to the areas where you like to view the White-tailed deer prancing, or cougars, or grizzly, take your pick. EDU
CATE yourselves before making judgements based on personal opinion, you might be wrong. If you don’t hunt, great. I do, I invest a considerable amount of time and money to do so, as do others. Look up the Pittman-Robertson Act. Hunters under this act have paid over 30 million dollars since it’s inception for conservation and habitat preservation, more than ANYONE else! How much have YOU forked out? Also, compare the automobile accident death toll to that of hunting related fatalities. Wow! so if you drive a car, you’re much more dangerous than I am! Do you eat meat? I do. I know where it was when it was harvested, its health, cleanliness and every other aspect of its handling because I do it myself. I hope you trust everyone in the chain handling yours. Or do you just consider it more regal to have the slaughter done for you so you can act superior. In short, if you don’t know anything about something, research it, know the truth, don’t spout hearsay, really, honestly, find out. Then a least you can make an educated remark. Oh, and by the way, everyone’s ancestors were HUNTERS before they were anything else.

November 19, 2008 at 12:29 am
(3) Mike says:

Exactly. If it were not for hunting- NONE of us would be here now. Then argument would then be “well we don’t need to hunt for survival anymore-just go the the store.” As mentioned above- the killing still takes place somewhere. I take the middle man out of the equation. I enjoy seeing live animals too, but I still take my place in the food chain. Humans are omnivores. Get over yourself and leave us hunters alone!!

November 19, 2008 at 1:19 am
(4) Doris Lin says:

Hi, Rob and Mike,

Thanks for your comments. I encourage you to explore this site, so that you can see that the animal rights position advocates veganism. Not buying meat in a supermarket. For example:
http://animalrights.about.com/od/animalsusedforfood/a/SolutionFactory.htm
http://animalrights.about.com/od/animalsusedforfood/f/HappyMeat.htm
http://animalrights.about.com/b/2008/11/05/speak-up-for-your-vegan-bonus.htm

Pittman-Robertson funds go to pay for pro-hunting programs, such as hunter education and stocking of lands. Most people are surprised to learn that the government spends money to raise animals just for hunters.

Also, wildlife watching contributes more to the economy than hunting and fishing:
http://www.oregonlive.com/news/index.ssf/2008/11/wildlife_watching_surpasses_hu.html

Rob, if you’re referring to riots by spectators, yes, riots are terrible. But the violence is not a characteristic of the game itself. Any kind of large crowd situation carries a risk of riots.

November 24, 2008 at 8:45 pm
(5) hunter says:

I Simply cannot understand zealots. Our entire world is based on the “web of life” or the “food chain”, or whatever it is being called today. This is true everywhere and always. I respect your right to choose not to eat meat or use animal by products, but when you actively trying to take my rights away then you have overstepped the bounds.
Just to give you something to think about…. I am teaching all 5 of my kids to hunt, trap, fish, butcher, and raise meat supplying animals. (and 5 of my kids are girls)
All my friends are doing the same for thier kids. As thier families did for them.
Just something for you to think about to know that a whole new generation will be picking up where we left off, and to carry on our lifestyle. So no time soon will it change.

January 27, 2009 at 5:10 pm
(6) Ally says:

Im 13, and im trying to do a persuasive essay on deer hunting and ive gone through about 30 sites now and realized something. Hunting will continue, no matter what. It is a right to protest and a right to hunt. IT is not fair to kill a deer or any other species with the modern technology today. This whole topic is point of view because no matter what either side says, pro or con, there will be some way to disprove it. If you dont hunt, great, if you do, thats your choice. Its simply idiotic to put down a hunter saying they are inhumain or in anyway unhuman for killing a deer or whatever. ITs your way to look at it, dont try to force others to see it your way, that also goes for hunters.

January 29, 2009 at 11:34 am
(7) BRANDON says:

GO HUNTING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

January 29, 2009 at 11:41 am
(8) Brandon says:

GO HUNTING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

June 21, 2009 at 6:29 pm
(9) Irish says:

Hey Brandon and all the rest of ye hunters,I LOVE HUNTING ACCIDENTS,especially hunters who shoot each other,in fact why don’t the lot of ye keep shooting each other then no more innocent animals will die for ye small wankers and small brains,we no longer live in neanderthal era’s except ye blokes,so please just go and kill each other,ye take up precious air.

September 14, 2009 at 7:21 pm
(10) WWW.HUNTERSONLY.COM says:

More spectators/bystanders are killed and injured watching racing events than from hunting, so should this be considered a sport ? Should we stop it, cancel it ? No matter how you do the numbers, no matter how you twist it, hunting id SAFER than almost any other sport/organized function you can find anywhere, PERIOD !! Yes, I hunt, I am president of a small hunting club, and owner of http://WWW.HUNTERSONLY.COM, a website for hunters, and I fell safe doing it.

(Edited to conform to About.com guidelines)

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