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( 10 ) no sport. The hunting of fox, deer, rabbit, etc., is equally cruel and cowardly. Big-game shooting is occasionally defended on the ground that the killing of ferocious animals saves men and beasts from their ravages. The pretext is false in fact. It is rarely that one goes with the sole object for shooting a man eating, or a sheep-carrying wolf or a poisonous snake. Even when the ayowed object of the hunter is protection of society from the ferocious wild animal, the real motives which impel him to such action are not humanitarian, but the desire of reward, the expectation of being called a brave man, or the excitement of the hunt.
A person may have a justification for causing the death of a wolf, or a tiger when he is compelled to do so in order to save the life of a man, or a beast. But a lion-hunt, or tiger-shooting, as such, is a sin, though it may not be a crime under man-made law. A hunting expedition is an expensive pastime indulged in by persons in high position, who are not only personally secure from all possible harm, but have all comforts and luxuries provided for them, and for their sport the poor beast is beaten out of his retreat, goaded into a temper, and is fired at from a safe distance and it is then that the killers find a pleasure in watching the death agonies of the unfortunate animal, and exhibit its stuffed skin as a trophy or memento of their bravery.
Shooting of thousands of birds by parties of pleasureseekers, even during the Christmas week, and on a Sabbath, is also called sport ; and records are made and preserved of the thousands bagged by members of the party. This can hardly be differentiated from the sinful pleasure experienced by boys who stone to death a crawling serpent or a scorpion seeking for a hole to creep in, who enjoy the tearing up of a mouse by a cat, or who steal the eggs or young ones of a bird.
If there be any pleasure experienced in such killing, it can only be likened to the morbid feeling of satisfaction which Nadir Shah is said to have enjoyed when hordes of persons used to be brought in his presence bound all over and beheaded one after another. When asked who he was that he
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| SR No. | 001105 |
| Book Title | Purusharthsiddhyupay English |
| Original Sutra Author | Amrutchandracharya |
| Author | Ajit Prasad |
| Publisher | ZZZ Unknown |
| Publication Year | 1933 |
| Total Pages | 160 |
| Language | English, Sanskrit |
| Classification | Book_English, Ethics, & Principle |
| File Size | 11 MB |