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Last week we posted a photo of an attractive blonde posing with a 450-lb. alligator she had just killed in a sanctioned hunt. Reason being: We're always looking for an excuse to show you pictures of sexy women.

We certainly didn't anticipate that our meager attempt to titillate would spark a spirited debate on hunting, with the both camps bashing each other with hundreds of pointed and fairly unsexy comments.

But it did, so we've summed up some of the more interesting arguments from both sides, and added a few of our own. We've also included more pictures of Arianne Prevost, the gator slayer who started it all, because the original didn't do her justice.

Respect the food chain

-- Short of eliminating meat eating altogether, there will always be hunting of some sort. And what if we did stop eating flesh, hippie? How are you really going to feel about having to share your sprouts and your sense of superiority with the rest of us?

-- "Innocent" animals actually do kill people sometimes. In fact, deer eradicate about 150 Americans a year in automobile accidents. That might not sound like a lot, but it's about three times the number who will die by lightning. And if we could hunt lightning, everybody would be all over that.

-- Commenter Mr. Hunter said it best when he ripped the bleeding hearts who anthropomorphize down the food chain: "Why do you morons think that all animals live a cartoon existence? That they live in little gator houses and kiss their gator babies goodnight then relax and watch the cartoon network?"

While we smell what Mr. Hunter is cooking, we have to add that if gators did start living in houses and watching cartoons, it would be even more imperative that we kill them.



Hunting is barbaric

-- There are some things in life that are basically unpleasant, but you do because you have to do. Like changing your kid's diaper. In fact, unpleasant as it is, you may not even mind changing your kid's diaper. But if you start changing diapers just for fun you're a sicko. You can pretty much apply the same argument to hunting for sport.

-- Granted, there is a huge difference -- legal and otherwise -- between killing a gator during a sanctioned hunt and killing a canine during an unsanctioned dog-fighting felony. But should it be an 18 months in jail versus getting to go on TV and brag about the long and painful death you inflicted on another being kind of difference?

-- We really have evolved to the point in which we hardly ever have to kill animals. That doesn't mean we shouldn't ... but it is a valid argument.