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Hunting is the practice of pursuing living animals (usually wildlife)
for food, recreation, or trade. In present-day use, the term refers
to lawful hunting, as distinguished from poaching, which is the killing,
trapping or capture of the hunted species contrary to law. The species
which are hunted are referred to as game and are usually large or small
mammals or migratory or non-migratory gamebirds. Hunting can also
involve the elimination of vermin as a means of pest control if not the
species can over populate causing disease. Hunting advocates claim
that hunting can be a necessary component of modern wildlife management,
for example to help maintain a population of healthy animals within an
environment's ecological carrying capacity when natural checks such as
predators are absent. In the United States, wildlife managers are
frequently part of hunting regulatory and licensing bodies, where they
help to set rules on the number, manner and conditions in which game may
be hunted.
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