In a nutshell, Ms Cruttenden claims that exposure to the killing of animals, such as may be witnessed on a family hunting trip, desensitises young minds to violence, potentially turning them to a life of mayhem. 

To justify her claims Ms Cruttenden quotes, or should I say she cherry-picks, a study that dealt with violent imagery on television, in the movies and in video games. The study ostensibly concluded that prolonged exposure may cause developmental delays in those areas of the brain responsible for limiting violent behaviour and impulse control.

Ms Cruttenden the men and women who, for generations, have worked the land and tirelessly built the community you live in, routinely kill animals.  It is part of the everyday business of working the land and all of this they do with their children – boys and girls – at heel, learning the business of life on the land.

For the record, Ms Cruttenden, exactly how deranged do you believe these children of animal killers have grown up to be? How many of yesterday’s rural youth are crazed killers roaming the streets of Narooma/Dalmeny darkly plotting drive-by shootings and school massacres? Surely if the occasional deer hunt can cause brain damage as you claim, the youth of farming communities, having suffered daily exposure for years on end, must be completely psychotic and know absolutely no restraint whatsoever?

To the contrary, those children have matured into the responsible adults you rely upon every day; teachers, mechanics, shop assistants, chefs, police officers, farmers, vets, and all the other folk who make rural communities sustainable.

Moreover, all the antisocial outcomes of “desensitisation to killing animals” you and your pals feign concern about, occur not in rural areas such as ours, but in cities where few children are exposed to the killing of any animal, other than the family dog in the oh-so sanitised setting of an urban veterinary practice, complete with soft lighting and piped music. 

Garry Mallard

Bega