Domesticating the hunter

Posted by Samantha Lin

This afternoon we were sitting recovering from the hangover from the night before's birthday celebrations and I got to thinking about hunters and the hunting instinct.  I argued that a natural hunter's instinct will always remain even if domesticated, you cannot keep a wild animal and expect it not to have the instinct to feed.

In a house where you own a cat and a tank full of fish, the cat may spend weeks and months watching the fish and being taught not to dip his paw into the tank through continuous scolding, however, where does the line get crossed when the cat decides when the owner has gone to the shops to dip his paw in and scoop out goldfish from the bowl?  How long does it take before the cat gives in to his instincts and takes his feed at the opportune moment?

Are we as people also the same?  When a person has the hunting instinct and is in a long term relationship; can he or she remain faithful despite hunting instinct or would instinct take over and lead them to dip their paws in and scoop up the goldfish when no-one is looking?

When we meet a person who is a known hunter it seems that we automatically try to domesticate this wild animal and expect them to think and act like us.  And when we catch them “watching the fish” or scanning the room, looking around or perhaps even engaging in conversation with another we feel betrayed and angry; but perhaps that is not how it should be.  When entering into a relationship with a known hunter surely we know what we are letting ourselves in for, and if that is the case surely logic would tell us to accept that person for who they are.  However, the human condition dictates that we as a species will, when in a relationship act upon our emotions and expect that once we have got our “cat” that our cat will remain faithfully, loving and forever be happy sitting on our knee, eating Sheba or Whiskas and be happy with that.  We expect that our lovely little cat is our faithful pet that would do no wrong and we even treat the pet like our own species, we expect them to act like us, mirror us, mirror our behaviour.  You get your Sheba what more do you want?  But then we come home to discover to our horror that the lovely little pet has betrayed our trust and dipped their paw into the fish tank and devoured all of the fish.

Can we domesticate the hunter, do we release them back into their natural habitat in the wild, or can we accept the nature of this animal and allow them to hunt as their nature intended?