Cyprus-Forum.com

[rawk]

Well Pantheman

I think people should be forced to take safety courses before they're given a hunting license. It's terrible that there are stories about hunting accidents - a 14-year-old boy was shot in the arm by his own father yesterday.

He was walking around with a loaded shotgun! Surely it's just common sense not to load the gun if you're walking.

Every time I write these stories I feel that they could have been prevented. I mean, they happen every year.

Shot in the arm..........

Have you cooled down yet or is it still the wrong time of the month for you?

Do you want to comment on my sarky comment about the assasin who died in a motorcycle accident on a posting on this Forum, or is that alright then? Its still a life, after all.

Rawk

[cyprusgrump]

Why do we have this hysteria every year when there are hunting accidents?

A young boy was injured in a tragic accident – his father must be devastated.

People are killed on the roads every week yet nobody starts a thread on here suggesting that cars should be banned!

In fact, I’d wager that more people are killed and injured falling off ladders every year (especially the Cypriot ones made out of a few bits of old wood nailed together) than are hurt hunting. Let’s ban ladders!

There are over 50,000 registered hunters in Cyprus. Cypriots take their sons hunting in the same way as a British father might take his son down the park and teach him to kick a football. They’ve done it for generations.

If you wanted to create division between the ex-pat community and the Cypriots you simply couldn’t find a better way of doing it than campaigning against hunting!

[reportfromcyprus]

Why do we have this hysteria every year when there are hunting accidents?

A young boy was injured in a tragic accident – his father must be devastated.

People are killed on the roads every week yet nobody starts a thread on here suggesting that cars should be banned!

In fact, I’d wager that more people are killed and injured falling off ladders every year (especially the Cypriot ones made out of a few bits of old wood nailed together) than are hurt hunting. Let’s ban ladders!

There are over 50,000 registered hunters in Cyprus. Cypriots take their sons hunting in the same way as a British father might take his son down the park and teach him to kick a football. They’ve done it for generations.

If you wanted to create division between the ex-pat community and the Cypriots you simply couldn’t find a better way of doing it than campaigning against hunting!

I wouldn't go so far as to call it 'campaigning', it's an exchange of thoughts on something that is obviously not improving with time.

If it's hysteria to be concerned about the health and safety of kids and the general balance of nature then I would suggest that you need to redefine what hysteria means.

Hysteria is what the mother of that kid who was shot must be feeling.

[reportfromcyprus]

If you wanted to create division between the ex-pat community and the Cypriots you simply couldn’t find a better way of doing it than campaigning against hunting!

You are politicising a theme that started out with improving safety in hunting to prevent accidents.

Don't turn it into another divisive issue. If someone is irresponsible then they should lose their license - hunting or driving.

[cyprusgrump]

Why do we have this hysteria every year when there are hunting accidents?

A young boy was injured in a tragic accident – his father must be devastated.

People are killed on the roads every week yet nobody starts a thread on here suggesting that cars should be banned!

In fact, I’d wager that more people are killed and injured falling off ladders every year (especially the Cypriot ones made out of a few bits of old wood nailed together) than are hurt hunting. Let’s ban ladders!

There are over 50,000 registered hunters in Cyprus. Cypriots take their sons hunting in the same way as a British father might take his son down the park and teach him to kick a football. They’ve done it for generations.

If you wanted to create division between the ex-pat community and the Cypriots you simply couldn’t find a better way of doing it than campaigning against hunting!

I wouldn't go so far as to call it 'campaigning', it's an exchange of thoughts on something that is obviously not improving with time.

If it's hysteria to be concerned about the health and safety of kids and the general balance of nature then I would suggest that you need to redefine what hysteria means.

Hysteria is what the mother of that kid who was shot must be feeling.

Not a campaign?

Half the posters on this thread have called for hunting to be banned.

You yourself posted:

What's distressing is that it's kids that get hurt. And they learn the bad habits of the fathers. Maybe Sotos is right that it should just be banned. What would happen if it were? Would there be a protest of some kind?

You also posted:

I don't agree with it because there's no real need for hunting

The facts are that 50,000 Cypriots love hunting and have done so for generations.

The fact is that they eat everything they kill.

The fact is that safety has improved – hunters now have to wear ‘day-glo’ jackets to reduce accidents.

The fact is that in Cyprus you can’t simply wait for the game to come to you – you have to walk to find it.

The fact is that if you walked with an empty gun the game would be gone by the time you loaded it.

The fact is that this was just a tragic accident.

The fact is that more children will be tragically killed in car accidents this year than will be injured hunting.

[reportfromcyprus]

[quote="cyprusgrump
Not a campaign?

Half the posters on this thread have called for hunting to be banned.

You yourself posted:

What's distressing is that it's kids that get hurt. And they learn the bad habits of the fathers. Maybe Sotos is right that it should just be banned. What would happen if it were? Would there be a protest of some kind?

You also posted:

I don't agree with it because there's no real need for hunting

The facts are that 50,000 Cypriots love hunting and have done so for generations.

The fact is that they eat everything they kill.

The fact is that safety has improved – hunters now have to wear ‘day-glo’ jackets to reduce accidents.

The fact is that in Cyprus you can’t simply wait for the game to come to you – you have to walk to find it.

The fact is that if you walked with an empty gun the game would be gone by the time you loaded it.

The fact is that this was just a tragic accident.

The fact is that more children will be tragically killed in car accidents this year than will be injured hunting.[/quote]

I think I can express my opinion if I want to without it being a campaign.

A campaign would be a paid advertisement, or a lobby applying a petition to parliament, or pressuring an MP to present a case for banning hunting.

'just' a tragic accident? Last year a boy was shot in the stomach and died - again by his father. It makes no difference to me whether it was an injury or a death, my question to you and all hunters is: how will these accidents be prevented?

[reportfromcyprus]

I think I can express my opinion if I want to without it being a campaign.

A campaign would be a paid advertisement, or a lobby applying a petition to parliament, or pressuring an MP to present a case for banning hunting.

'just' a tragic accident? Last year a boy was shot in the stomach and died - again by his father. It makes no difference to me whether it was an injury or a death, my question to you and all hunters is: how will these accidents be prevented?

(realised that the previous post could be confusing, so the above is my point)

[Kikapu]

'just' a tragic accident? Last year a boy was shot in the stomach and died - again by his father. It makes no difference to me whether it was an injury or a death, my question to you and all hunters is: how will these accidents be prevented?

Men will be men and will have the "caveman" mentality to act like "Rambo" with a gun in their hands. That's fine, go and do your hunting, just take your lawyer with you, like Dick Cheney did, and leave the kids at home. Why is it necessary to teach kids to hunt by killing helpless animals. It's not as if food is scares to maintain survival. Let kids be kids and let them do their own things. Perhaps, they can grow to respect animals and not poison them, because they are detached emotionally from them.

And for the morons who cause accidents. You're suppose to have the shot gun loaded but should always be "broken", as not to be fired accidentally, in case you get your "big ass" tripped on a branch or in a rabbit hole. And one more thing, you're not at the OK Coral, so you don't need to make a fast draw. Who do you think you are for pete sake ?.... Idiots.!!

[cyprusgrump]

I used the work ‘campaign’ because it is not just your post on this board – I bet I could find others with the same theme on different forums.

It will also be the same ex-pat discussion in every bar and taverna on the island for the next few months. It is the same every year.

You are of course welcome and obviously able to express your own opinion on any matter that you so choose. My post was designed to express my opinion which is of course equally as valid.

My post was also designed to introduce some facts and a sense of perspective to the debate.

It is tragic that an accident occurred and even more tragic when people are killed.

But put in perspective with a million people killed on the roads of the world every year – no call for banning cars.

Any sport that involves some element of danger (hunting, skydiving, motor racing etc.) carries the risk – acknowledged by all participants – that something can go wrong. It would be impossible to completely eradicate every risk.

[reportfromcyprus]

Accepting risk - fair enough, cyprusgrump, but since the boy was 14, I don't think he has the life experience to judge whether he accepts the risk or not.

So it's not really 'all participants' who are in a position to accept this risk, it's only the legal adults.

If the father accepted the risk on the boy's behalf, he was responsible to take every possible measure to prevent this risk, including keeping the gun open as he walked.