Why do raccoons hunt for sport?

The only animal that “hunts for sport” is the homo sapien - human. Hunting by other animals is a survival instinct that contains no thought process that would put it into the “sport” mindset. read more

Hunting by other animals is a survival instinct that contains no thought process that would put it into the “sport” mindset. It has been shown that predatory animals do get an increase of dopamine while engaging in hunting, or engaging in hunting play. read more

Much of what holds for deer hunting does not apply to fox hunting, say, or to hunting mountain lions with hounds, to hunting raccoons with hounds, to varmint shooting for coyotes, woodchucks, prairie dogs, and the like (bracketing off moral concerns about varmint shooting for the moment). read more

As it happens, there’s little direct research on why adults enjoy killing animals for “sport”. read more