ISSUES: Bowhunting (1)

Editor’s Note: The Greanville Post.com is completely opposed to so-called recreational hunting in all its forms, regarding it as a depraved and anachronistic activity without any social or moral justification. The contradictions surrounding hunting are legion. Ironically, many people who enjoy hunting see themselves as devout Christians (or whatever) and never stop to think for an elemental moment that taking a life for the sheer fun of it is a degenerate and cowardly act.  The churches, as usual, remains officially silent. Bowhunting–the subject of the controversy below–is a particularly heinous variety of this “pastime”. In a majority of cases it guarantees a slow and painful death. Such considerations, of course, rarely enter the chidishly selfish mindscape of bowhunters, or the vast network of media, politicians, and public officials that supports them. The item below —a local Pennsylvania paper piece (11/2002) cheerfully trumpeting a bowhunter’s narrow escape—provoked a reply from animal activist Judy Brock. The paper chose not to publish her letter (typical of the whorish media and one of the many reasons we need to replace it with a new non-commercial system).

 

My friend Natalie Jarnstedt reminded me of this case, and I thought TGP readers might be interested in reading about it for what it says about the state of affairs in this small corner of this enormously fucked up society.—P. Greanville

—Natalie Jarnstedt*

 

Long fall, longer crawl to safety  [print_link]

Hunter escapes woods with broken back, ankle

Wednesday, November 13, 2002

By Johnna A. Pro, Post-Gazette Staff Writer

Were she not lying flat with a broken back and a broken ankle in a trauma unit at Allegheny General Hospital, Athena Scanlon could be the poster girl for the Pennsylvania Game Commission.

She loves everything about hunting with a bow and arrow: the woods, the wildlife, the wind whistling through the trees.

Injured, alone and unable to attract help, Scanlon crawled 75 yards through the woods to her car, pulled herself inside, and drove a mile to Route 422, where a passerby finally stopped to help her.

As Scanlon made her way up the tree ladder, she checked each rung, including the top one, before proceeding. All were sturdy.

But when Scanlon put all her weight on the top rung and prepared to hoist herself into the stand, the step gave way.

For a few minutes, Scanlon lay on the ground on her back calling for help, to no avail.

As she made her way to the car, Scanlon remembered that her keys could activate the car alarm. She managed to get them out of her pocket.

Apparently she was successful. A teenager on an all-terrain vehicle drove by twice and Scanlon thought he was going to get help. But he never came back.

A plane flew overhead. It was getting darker and colder. Scanlon knew she had to get to the car. Once again, she started to crawl.

At the car, Scanlon managed to pull herself inside, but with her right leg broken, she was unable to push the gas pedal even as she got the car started.

Instead, as she partially lay across the seat in pain, she used her hand to push her right leg down, putting enough pressure on it to move the gas pedal.

With all the strength she could muster, Scanlon steered the car a mile out of the woods to Route 422 and pulled over, figuring she had a better shot of getting help on the highway.

She flashed her lights and blew her horn trying to attract attention.

“It was 5:38 p.m. when someone finally stopped,” she said. “It was 4 p.m. when I fell.”

Scanlon was flown by medical helicopter to Allegheny General Hospital, where she will undergo surgery today to repair the fractured joint in her right ankle.

She also fractured a vertebra in her lower back, but that most likely will heal without surgery. Doctors expect that she will wear a brace for 12 weeks but the prognosis is good.

jpro@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1574

LETTER TO EDITOR RESPONSE

Editor John G. Craig, Jr.

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

34 Blvd of the Allies

Pittsburgh, PA   15222

I am writing about the article:  Long fall, longer crawl to safety, featured on November 13th.  This story was about a bow hunter, Athena Scanlon, falling from her tree stand while deer hunting.  She broke her back and ankle and had to crawl to her car to safety.  I only wish I could interview her about this incident.  I would ask her about the experience she had with pain and fear.  I would carefully point out that what she felt is only the beginning of what the deer experience when they are wounded by arrows, how they run away bleeding to death, with fear, crawl to their death, feel the pain and die slow deaths.  I would mention how it is difficult for me to understand how anyone could “love” doing this to an innocent, docile animal for the purpose of recreation and classify it as “wonderful” and “addicting”.  Yes, hunting activists say it is “wonderful” and “addicting”, but I fail to understand, especially since bow hunting causes a 50% wounding rate.  Translated this means: for every deer shot with an arrow, 50% of them are wounded; not killed quickly.  They suffer and die slow deaths:  bleeding to death, infection from the wound, etc.  Yes, deer feel pain and fear, just like this bow hunter did.

Thank you,

Judy Brock

*Natalie Jarnstedt is a well-known animal defense activist based in Connecticut.