Falconry

[Ohzen]

I grew up in a remote mountain village and Falconry is part of my countries intangible cultural heritage. I love birds above anything else but since Im turning vegan doubts are torturing me. Thats why I registered on this forum in hope to find someone I can discuss this dilemma with.

 

[Ohzen]

According to Merriam-Webster a vegan is “a strict vegetarian who consumes no food that comes from animals and does not use any animal products.” I have lactose intolerance and as a bird lover it struck me quite early what it is Im actually consuming.... for about 12-14 years now my diet is at least 80% plant based. The transition to 100% wont be TOO hard for me.... but even with a pure vegan diet I am afraid I will just alienate two worlds Im living in. Vegan Hunter? But since Im a Falconer and not a typical Hunter anymore... the killed rodents are distributed among the birds (Im part of a hunters union that runs a shelter for injured birds).

Hunting can often be used to help deal with ecological imbalances caused by human activity. For example, where I live, we have WAY too many rodents because our predecessors destroyed the living space of their natural predators for arable land and housing projects. As an experienced Falconer I am part of a goverment sponsored group to observe bird of prey breeding programs in certain areas of Austria.

I think hunting can be either morally wrong OR a necessity, not both. Although I think that to be quite the complicated answer with many variables, eating hunted meat is easily one of the most "humane" options. There’s very little you can do to guarantee that the meat at your supermarket hasn’t been abused. With hunted meat, you know exactly what you’re eating (particularly in that you often know you’re hunting something that is already in need of culling) and you know that the animal in question has spent a life of freedom, without much opportunity for abuse at the hands of our crueler peers. However, I dont feel the same about meat that comes from a local farm. The sort where you get to make friends with the farmer and his family, and where you get to meet the animal and see how it lives for yourself...

 

[Andy_T]

welcome to the forum!

do I read "Austria" as your home country correctly?

(I am asking as I am also from Austria - Vienna, to be precise - but - while I know that it is a local practice - I had not yet been aware that falconry is a huge part of Austrian cultural heritage, e.g. compared to countries like United Arab Emirates, Azerbaijan, and so on).

Side note - I looked up "Falconry as cultural heritage" and was surprised and impressed to see that Austria was the second country (after United Arab Emirates) mentioned at the UNESCO site as having proposed this as living cultural heritage. So I learned something new today .

So what I mean is only that - in Austria - luckily, it is typically easier possible than in other countries practising falconry to get many products that can help you to transition from a non-vegan lifestyle to a vegan lifestyle.

Examples would include "Beyond Burgers", vegan "Schnitzel", "Wilmersburger" vegan cheese or similar, which are often even available at your local "Billa" or "Hofer" supermarkets, unless you really live in a very remote location. (in that case, mail-order or specialty shops might be an option)

The other good thing is that to make the world a better place, you do not necessarily need to adopt veganism 100% or not at all.

If you are active in caring for predatory birds (which I think is actually a super cool activity!) and it is very important to you, you do not have to give it up immediately, but rather you can at the same time start to eat plant-based food and wear plant-based clothes instead of animal products to make the world a little better.

Take care,
Andy

 

[Ohzen]

The decision was made a while ago that I will not eat animals because of the taste or any other reason. Unfortunately part of my job is killing animals on a regular basis.... its a bit of a dilemma here.

I have a big vegetable patch and many friends do too so my diet allready is 80-90% local grown plant based (eggs are bird babies and as an adult I dont drink mother-milk), I still wear clothes I have from my (grand)father or military service, my job is it to preserve nature...

Breaded Parasol (hand-picked) is better than every Kalbsschnitzel I had sofar. I will most likely never eat a "Beyond Burger" because I dont eat Burgers.... Im a simple person.

Actually I see an opportunity here. Many Hunters (Forest Wardens) I know are very close to nature and live humble lifes but because part of their job is to kill animals most people think it is inevitable that they must be staunch defends of eating meat as well. Vast majority of younger (and still many older) people that became hunters I know not at all enjoy the act of killing itself (but see it as a necessity to repair civilization made problems) and refuse to eat meat from the supermarket.... they rather eat cabbage soup with potatoes and drink a bottle of Schnaps.

I think I will try to speak with hunters (beginning with the national falconers association) that support the notion of veganism. Hunters hate Meat Factories... even though to be honest most of them love eating meat. Due to changing times I think the saying "You should be able to kill an animal if you want to eat it" should get the additional "You should be able to work in a Meat Factory for a week if you want to eat an animal."

 

[Ohzen]

do I read "Austria" as your home country correctly?

Servas! Ois leiwand? Grüße in die Hauptstadt... warma imma bissl zu streßig. I bin hoit a echta Bauanbua.

A rather interesting fact is that quite a lot of birds from Austria are beeing sold to Arab Emirates but... its actually not a bad thing. After a few hours traveling time (which are usually spend in deep slumber) the birds will be treated like gods. Also there is this arab tradition that you should not own a bird and must let it free after a year... "If I get reborn, I wanna be a falocn in Arabia because I was never good at learning new languages..."

 

[Ohzen]

"...this 2 kids are Manfred and Mathilda, they are about to visit their grandmother in Wupperthal, South Africa..."

I imagine there must be something similar like a huge, austrian falcon colony in Saudi Arabia. Like all those birds speaking broken german.... "TSHAAAAA!!"

Ach ja... einmal im Leben, durch Wuppertal schweben!