At the moment, I’m reading Daniel Suarez’s new book Kill Decision. So far it’s a good read, as long as you can ignore the references to “drum clips” and other firearms nomenclature faux pas. He’s a technology-minded writer, and does a great job of taking current gizmos that are widely available and in use and envisioning the logical end result. Kill Decision is specifically about autonomous drones and what can happen if the same kind of military hardware that the U.S. is using in war zones makes its way into the wrong hands. And from what I can see, it looks like PETA may be the first example of that scary future coming true . . .
PETA will soon have some impressive new weapons at its disposal to combat those who gun down deer and doves. The group is shopping for one or more drone aircraft with which to monitor those who are out in the woods with death on their minds. PETA aims to collect video footage of any illegal activity, including drinking while in the possession of a firearm, a common complaint from those who live near wooded areas; maiming animals and failing to pursue them so that they die slowly and painfully; and using spotlights, feed lures, and other hunting tricks that are illegal in some areas but remain common practices among hunters. PETA currently has its sights on Australia-based Aerobot and its state-of-the-art remote-controlled CineStar Octocopter.
“The talk is usually about drones being used as killing machines, but PETA drones will be used to save lives,” says PETA President Ingrid E. Newkirk. “Slob hunters may need to rethink the idea that they can get away with murder, alone out there in the woods with no one watching.”
Hunters, using high-powered guns and bows and arrows, slaughter and maim millions of animals every year, and by some estimates, poachers kill just as many animals illegally. It can take weeks for some animals who are merely wounded to succumb to their injuries. And research shows that for every animal killed by a bow hunter, another is maimed, never to be found again. Furthermore, the slaughtered animals aren’t the only victims, because weak or young family members are left to starve or be attacked by predators.
PETA also intends to fly the drones over factory farms, popular fishing spots, and other venues where animals routinely suffer and die.
Sure, there are indeed some hunters that aren’t ethically hunting animals and need to be stopped. That I can get behind. But the use of the phrase “high-powered guns” makes me think that this will be another front on the continuing assault on firearms ownership in general.
Legislators are currently going out of their way to keep “traditional” hunting rifles out of the “assault weapons ban” great purge, but how many TV commercials playing one or two scenes of unethical hunters will it take to turn the Democrats’ attention towards stopping the “senseless violence” of hunting as well?