Description

Hunting is the practice of killing ortrappingany animal, or pursuing or tracking it with the intent ofdoing so.Hunting wildlife or feral animals is most commonly done byhumansfor food, recreation, to remove predators that are dangeroustohumans or domestic animals, or for trade.

Lawful hunting is distinguished from poaching, which istheillegal killing, trapping or capture of the hunted species.Thespecies that are hunted are referred to as game or prey andareusually mammals and birds.

Hunting can also be a means of pest control. Huntingadvocatesstate that hunting can be a necessary component[1] ofmodernwildlife management, for example, to help maintain apopulation ofhealthy animals within an environment's ecologicalcarryingcapacity when natural checks such as predators are absentor veryrare.

However, hunting has also heavily contributed totheendangerment, extirpation and extinction of many animals.

The pursuit, capture and release, or capture for food of fishiscalled fishing, which is not commonly categorised as a formofhunting. It is also not considered hunting to pursueanimalswithout intent to kill them, as in wildlifephotography,birdwatching, or scientific research activities whichinvolvetranquilizing and/or tagging of animals or birds. Thepractice offoraging or gathering materials from plants andmushrooms is alsoconsidered separate from hunting.

Skillful tracking and acquisition of an elusive target hascausedthe word hunt to be used in the vernacular as a metaphor, asintreasure hunting, "bargain hunting", and even "huntingdowncorruption and waste".