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A
one-minute mini-documentary released to Youtube in March profiles a veterinary
student who is also a hunter, and who says she kills animals to help them.
The hunting
veterinarian
The video
by 60 Second Docs Presents showcases veterinary student Elizabeth Gambel of Louisiana,
who describes herself as ‘a future veterinarian who hunts’.
In the profile, Gambel
explains her lifestyle over footage of her eating meat, hunting, and training
to be a veterinarian.
‘Super good’
In one frame, the veterinary student says: “I feel so much for animals.”
The video cuts
to a shot of her eating meat which she describes as ‘super good’ just seconds
later.
‘Protecting
animals’
Gambel says: “A lot of people think since you’re killing animals, you’re not really
protecting animals.”
The
justification she provides for her hunting is ‘keeping the ecosystem
healthy’ – and she compares killing animals to ‘pruning an overgrown bush’.
Conflicting
opinions
While
Gambel maintains that what she does is part of ‘the cycle of life’, many Facebook
commenters disagree.
One
commenter compared her situation to being ‘a doctor who also happens to be a
cannibal’.
Another
wrote: “How can she claim that she ‘loves animals’ and that she ‘heals animals’ if she hunts them?”
‘Hunters are animal lovers’
However,
not all commenters indicated a belief that violence toward animals conflicts with the idea
of loving them.
A third Facebook user, whose profile picture shows him holding a gun, wrote: “I believe most
if not all hunters are animal lovers.”
