Question: What did the snow goose and other species in danger of overpopulation without hunting (deer, I suspect) do before humans came along?I'll answer my own question in a roundabout way. Animals such as the snow goose have predators usually. They also have habitats, areas where they feed and mate. Humans (hunters) are responsible for the near eradication of many predator species (wolves to name one.) Humans (hunters and non-hunters alike) are responsible for habitat loss. These two factors may put the population of a species well above its ecosystem's carrying capacity. In nature when this happens (very rare in comparison to the frequency of its occurrence because of humans) the population collapses, grows again, and levels off based on the new carrying capacity. A one time drop in numbers, but at least a stable population. Also one that happened the way it should, without humans acting as "god".
The other choice seems to be hunters pretending they are doing the animals a favour by sparing them cruelty by blasting or twanging them out of the sky. The twisted justification of this is beyond me. Humans are responsible for the problem in the first place, so they try to make a sport out of (for the large part) killing these animals.
No one seems to see the problem that could arise: If you want a license to kill one species, just destroy its habitat "inadvertently", or kill off its predators "unknowingly" and then replace the predator with yourself. Soon there will be no more food chains that aren't maintained artificially through human intervention. How long can humans juggle the world like this?
