B&C Position Statement - Animal Welfare and Conservation of Living Things

First Adopted July 27, 2011 - Updated February 5, 2013

Situational Overview

The subject of animal welfare and the proliferation of organizations focused on the subject have prompted much concern and debate within the hunter-conservation community and others.

Position

The Boone and Crockett Club supports the traditional moral principle that only human beings possess natural rights to freedom from intentional harm by another. Nevertheless, the Boone and Crockett Club supports the principle that nonhuman animals possess value in themselves as individuals and as species such that the taking of their lives or the imposition of physical harm on them must be for proportionate and sufficient reasons. Some such reasons are the proper maintenance of a balanced biotic community through managed harvesting of animals and the taking of animals for food, domestic and wild, provided that game laws are observed and wild species protected from endangerment of extinction, And, lastly, a sufficient and proportionate reason is the fostering of those values and virtues proper to the human predator as an integral member of the biotic community through hunting.

The Club also recognizes and supports the principle that all human hunting must be managed according to the best scientifically established data for the maintenance of the rich diversity of the entire biotic community. Hunting must be a positive contributor to ecological wellbeing. The Club, therefore, supports game laws that are best suited to the overall welfare of the biotic community, laws and customs that foster the principle of fair chase, and governmental policies as well as private efforts to restore or retain habitat suitable for game animals and all other species of animals indigenous to the particular biotic region in question.

Finally, the Club supports the moral principle that the infliction of pain on game animals through hunting must be at a minimum. Therefore, it encourages responsible use of weapons and adequate preparation for the hunt.