Mother Nature isn’t as kind as the stories.
QUESTION: This seems to be an unpopular subject to non-hunters. On occasion, I’ve heard reports of wolves or mountain lions killing far more animals than they need to eat. These stories come from a federal trapper taking care of problem animals killing livestock like sheep and cattle.
People who oppose the idea that animals would do this say that they only kill enough for later. Most often, these are people who live in big cities and never get out into the wild. I’ve heard some of the most bizarre reasons given as to why animals would never sport kill. My question is, do you think animals occasionally sport kill?
ANSWER: I’m not sure I would call it sport killing, but predators do indeed sometimes kill more than they need to survive, particularly when it comes to livestock and domestic animals.
They’ve been programmed over eons to kill prey when the opportunity presents itself. In the wild, they fail more often than they succeed, so they keep trying and usually manage to get enough to survive and raise young. Domestic animals are bred and trained to be docile and aren’t as well equipped to avoid predators, so they make for easy prey.
It’s somewhat analogous to humans. Before civilization we had to hunt and gather our food and burned a lot of calories doing so. Now that food is available to us in virtually unlimited supply, we eat more than we should and get fat.
Bears and wolves sometimes practice opportunity killing of moose and deer, bringing down more than they need to survive. This typically occurs when the deer are concentrated into wintering areas or yards where deep snow makes escape difficult.
Another example that’s sort of a middle ground is domestic or feral cats. They’re usually well fed and healthy, yet kill out of instinct. In the U.S. alone, cats kill more than 2.4 billion birds annually.
— Recent Ask the Biologist Question: Not in Kansas Anymore: Do extreme weather events like tornados drive deer out of an area? Find Out The Answer!