When humans first appeared on Earth, there were no supermarkets where they could push a trolley to fill with food. Instead, they killed animals, fished in rivers and lakes, hunted birds, and gathered fruits from trees. In those times, if there had been no animals to kill, humans would have killed each other, as there was no other way to survive.
But millennia have passed, and everything has changed. Humans no longer need to kill to eat. Nor even to protect themselves from wild beasts, as humans have taken over the areas where they once lived.
Hunting, therefore, transformed into a sport, gifting history with images of spectacular beauty and violence: triumphant hunters with their prey. In our country, these images are limited to dead birds and hares hanging from pickup trucks or hunters’ belts. Even this was acceptable during certain periods. But today, with the destruction our planet has suffered from human activity and with the decline in population of all species except humans, can we continue to consider hunting a sport?
In Cyprus, there isn’t even natural game. Government agencies breed hares and birds to release into the wild for hunters to find and kill. But this isn’t enough. Hunters need dogs, at least for the duration of the hunting season—dogs with an expiry date. In the meantime, these dogs must be trained. They need space, they need time. And hunters make demands, embellishing their requirements with requests that many might agree with, such as the placement of solar panels.
Since Sunday, everyone has been discussing the lighting of charcoal grills in the middle of the road—blocking civilian movement for hours—the absence of police, the phone call from the President of the Republic to the head of the hunters’ association to arrange a meeting at the presidential palace… And rightly so.
However, we should also discuss whether in 2025, millions of years after humans first appeared on Earth, people can still take up arms and go hunting as our ancestors did to feed themselves. We should ask ourselves if it makes sense to breed hares and other animals so that hunting can continue.
Of course, such a discussion will never happen. By emphasising their numbers—over 40,000—hunters have managed to keep politicians firmly in line.