RE: Ted Nugent on Howard Stern today
This is from howardstern.com
This doesn't successfully encapsulate all that was said, but it does effectively give the substance of the discussion:
HUNTING: BOTH SIDES
After a commercial, Howard reported Artie was in the green room sleeping, and wondered what he did the rest of the day that made him so tired. Howard then told Artie the only reason he had him woken up was because he had Ted Nugent, someone who supported the hunting of animals, and Sam Simon, a vegan of 35 years, on the line to discuss his potential hunting trip with Richard’s dad, Tom.
Sam noted he didn’t think Artie should hunt given the fact that animals both suffer a great deal when hunted and sometimes are merely wounded and not killed when struck. However, Ted claimed 90 percent of animals “hit” while hunting with a bow and arrow are killed, while another 8 percent allegedly survive like nothing happened. Because Ted compared hunting to the way animals harm other animals in everyday life during his argument, Sam noted the situations weren’t analogous, and insisted Ted was just adding more “suffering in the world” through his actions.
KILLING MORE THAN JUST DEER
Sam brought up how Ted supported canned hunts in Africa where wild animals like leopards were made to run down an enclosed area while hunters shot at them. Ted replied, though, that every part of the animals he killed in Africa went to the people of the area, and admitted to having killed and eaten zebras and elephants as well. This led Sam to claim Ted made “a ton of money” off his hunting, but Ted denied the allegation, adding “no check” had ever been written to him because of hunting.
DECIDING TO SIT IT OUT
Sam acknowledged his main problem with hunting was the pleasure hunters took in killing animals, while Artie admitted he didn’t see the difference in eating a steak and not killing the animals himself. Artie then asked Sam if he had a problem with Tom’s lifestyle, given that he needed to hunt to survive, and he said he didn’t, as long Tom needed to hunt to eat, but that it wasn’t necessary for Ted to do the same thing.
Given all the information he’d heard, Artie then promised he wouldn’t go bow-hunting, but, if he was legally permitted to hunt with a gun given of his record as a felon, he’d think about it more before making his decision. Both Howard and Robin acknowledged, though, that they were siding with Sam on the debate, and Artie ended up agreeing with them.
AN UNEQUAL “SPORT”
Howard took a number of calls on the topic, including one from a listener who referred to hunting as “a sport.” This led Gary to get on his intercom and question the caller’s definition of “sport,” pointing out he didn’t think a person with a gun was a fair match against a defenseless animal. However, the caller insisted it was, and added he thought animals like deer knew when hunting season started, and avoided walking around much because they knew they were involved in “the game.”