https://www.nytimes.com/2023/1...nvasive-species.html


Link to article with numerous photos.

Yes.
I remember my own and neighbours kids killing poisonous cane toads in Qld. Armed with golf clubs or whatever's.Kids do it regularly in toad areas.

Left wing rag, who cares what they think.

Yes, definitely; children make good killers of small creatures that need killing. They are closer to the ground. Teach them the difference; no they won't grow up to be mass murderers. When I was a kid everyone had a 22 rifle and we took them everywhere on our bikes. No one noticed or cared. And there were no shootings or car jackings back them.
It's the culture.

Definitely!

When I was young, my dad and I would go catfishing. It would start out with me wading through the weeds in the water (oblivious to the threat of water moccasins) and shooting frogs with my lever action 1894 Daisy BB gun and then cutting up for bait or leaving the small ones whole. Great fun!!!!

Properly brought up youngsters.

Given 22's and ammo can eliminate a lot o varmints.

Didnt read the article because it wanted my money to allow access.
I presume it has to do with possum and rabbit control , and competitions involving those species. New Zealand is about the only place on the planet that didnt have animals living here prior to humans arriving . There were birds , and bats , and seals but any other species has come here with humans.
And possums - from Australia - and rabbits - from Europe/UK - are major pests in the environment. Kids have been killing them for the last 100 years or more.
back when our population was mostly rural every farm kid killed rabbits and possums , often times to eat to supplement the household food supply. Its only since the rise of the urban dwelling , university educated , left-leaning idiots with masters degrees in selling french fries that killing pest species has been a problem.
My son tagged along on rabbiting trips when he was a bundle on my back. Its perfectly natural rural thing to do.

I grew up shooting and trapping rabbits and foxes on our farm. It became a game but confirmed my connection with two or three million years of our species' evolution.

I sometimes wonder if some of the mental-health problems in the modern world come from disconnection with our hunting heritage.