Short answers, pulled from the story.
Hunting is the human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, and killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons are to obtain meat and animal products like fur, bone, and antler, for recreation or trophy hunting, to remove dangerous predators or pests, for trade and tourism, and for ecological conservation against overpopulation and invasive species.
Hunting predates anatomically modern humans and may predate the genus Homo entirely. The oldest undisputed evidence dates to the Early Pleistocene, consistent with the emergence of Homo erectus about 1.7 million years ago, and comparison with chimpanzees suggests the behaviour may reach back to a common ancestor as early as 5 million years ago.
Stone spearheads dated as early as 500,000 years ago were found in South Africa, and the earliest surviving wooden hunting spears, the Schoningen spears found in 1976 in Germany, date to about 300,000 years ago and are linked to Homo heidelbergensis. The atlatl spear-thrower appeared before 30,000 years ago and the bow around 18,000 years ago.
The Hunting Act 2004 banned the hunting of wild mammals with dogs in England and Wales, including fox, hare, deer, and mink. The act carries exceptions, and activists have made numerous attempts to revoke it over the two decades since it became law in February 2005.
The evidence is contested. A study in Biological Conservation found trophy hunting more than doubles the land used for wildlife conservation, and legalized white rhinoceros hunting in South Africa lifted numbers from fewer than one hundred to more than 11,000. Critics counter that less than 3% of a trophy hunter's spending reaches the local level and that ecotourism generates twice the revenue per acre and 39 times more permanent employment.
The Pittman-Robertson Wildlife Restoration Act of 1937 places an eleven per cent tax on hunting equipment, now generating over $700 million a year for wildlife habitats. The Federal Duck Stamp program, begun in 1934, has raised $670 million and helped purchase or lease 5,200,000 acres of habitat, with ninety-eight per cent of funds going toward wetland protection.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service surveys show only about 5 per cent of Americans aged sixteen and older now hunt, half the figure of 50 years earlier. The decline is attributed to factors including habitat loss and changes in recreation habits, and it is expected to accelerate over the next decade, threatening how the United States will pay for conservation.