Hey everypony, I'm new to this group and wanted to repost a question I though you guy/girls could help me with. (Originally posted on Crossover forum)

I think it goes without saying that Fluttershy would absolutely hate the practice of poaching. The very idea of animals, endangered or otherwise, being kidnapped from their homes and sold to wealthy clients to be used for their own purposes, would, I feel, make her blood boil. Especially considering her new "Flutterbold" side she's showing in the most recent season of the show. Strangely enough however, I not seeing this as a concept for story on the site. I would have though by now that people would have linked these two ideas together to make a story. Perhaps poaching just isn't a thing in Equestria, but who's really to say.

What do you guys/girls think? Could this be a good idea for a story? Is there any stories that already exist that explore this idea? Tell me what you think.

6180671 But Fluttershy loves killing animals.

6180710
I'd say she's okay with it, if it serves a purpose. Animals need to eat, and she respects that. Poaching on the other hand is only done to profit the person doing the poaching, and often involves the mistreatment and kidnapping of endangered animals for illegal sales. She would not be okay with that.

6180717
Poachers have a purpose. You just don't agree with their purpose.

6180738
What purpose do they Serve? It can't be a good purpose. Poachers are criminals, they hunt animals illegally greatly effecting their populations and are making species even more endangered. Basically yes, I don't agree with their supposed purpose.

6180743
Poachers may have many intended purposes. I don't think you understand what the word means. So let us consult the dictionary, shall we?

Illegally hunt or catch (game or fish) on land that is not one's own or in contravention of official protection.

I'll spare you the inane pedantry of pointing out the many other uses of the word that aren't relevant, such as a manner of cooking eggs, and lets just focus on the one that is nearest your meaning in context.

Some poachers may just be hungry. One of the most common forms of poaching is to fish or hunt without a license, and/or on private property without permission from the owner of said property. Often simply for food.

Poaching is not defined by what kind of animal, the status of the animal, or the intended use of the hunted animal by the poacher. It is defined by who owns the land the animal is on when it is hunted/caught. "Official protection" is a rather recent addition to the term, but is more of a clarification of the efforts of government to use "national park" government land as "non-hunting areas" much the way nobles of old would claim a peasant hunting on the lord's lands was a poacher.

The fact that some animals are endangered makes the problem much worse, but that isn't really what makes it poaching. But we don't really have a word to describe "killing animals that are endangered." Again, just efforts by some to protect animals, such as by bringing them onto private property to hopefully keep them from being hunted. It becomes poaching alongside tesspassing at that point. Killing endangered animals in the wild, not poaching.

But you're not objecting to property crime. Even though that is what the word means. It is "stealing" from the landowner who has an expectation that he or she also owns all the animals and plants on the land to do with as he or she wishes. That land owner can kill anything on his or her land for any reason, and give permission to others to do the same.

So lets try to focus on what you do mean. What animals are endangered in Equestria? So far none. Breezies aren't exactly "animals" but they're the only thing that comes close to "endangered" we've seen so far. There is also some blurry lines between what even counts as an "animal" vs what appears to count as a "person" in Equestrian society where we have talking sheep and cows being mostly treated as livestock, goats holding jobs but not obviously capable of speech. donkeys, zebras, yaks, and buffalo all capable of speech and treated as "people," and giraffes incapable of speech and being treated as animals. Then among actual animals/critters, you have some with whom Fluttershy in particular seems able to talk, some she isn't able to. And further, some fauna appear to be treated as "monsters."

So who or what would be endangered among all of those? Is it a "people" or is it "animals?" Who or what is hunting them and is that what is causing the endangered status or exacerbating it?

One example in the real world is the California grizzly bear. It was hunted to extinction. People destroyed them out of fear, thinking they were a danger. An example that is probably in your mind is the black rhino, being hunted for its horn. You may disagree with the people wanting those horns, but they believe they're powerful and important medicine, and the pricetag of around $300k USD for a single horn indicates just how willing they are to get that ingredient. Imagine if someone found the cure for cancer, but it was similarly destructive to some animal to acquire it? Could you really fault someone for seeking that cure for themselves or a loved one? I don't believe rhino horns have that kind of medicinal value, but the people willing to pay exorbitant prices for it possibly do.

If you want to do an actually good or interesting story, you're going to have to come up with that, and figure out how that manages to fit into Equestria. The "poachers" are not just nefarious and evil people like Cruella Deville whom we're supposed to despise because the story tells us to. Even she had a reason for what she was trying to do, even if it was a fairly shallow one. So you'll have to set aside your ignorance and disgust for poachers and poaching, and figure out why they would do the things they do, in order to make them much more compelling antagonists for your story. Just like you need to do for any story. Evil for the sake of evil is boring and just terrible writing.

Once you've figured out who is doing the poaching, what they're poaching, why it is bad, why they don't think it's bad, and so on, then you have to figure out why Fluttershy even knows of it. Is it happening near Ponyville? Does she stumble across it during travels for an adventure somewhere? Fluttershy is a mostly passive character. She seems to spend her time at her cottage unless she has some reason to bring her out of it. She spends her time caring for various animals that come to her. Maybe one of the endangered animals comes to her, assuming it is something she can talk to. Not too difficult a task, but it isn't something you can just assume happens.

From there, what can Fluttershy do about it?

The other end of the scale is, why is no one else doing something about it? Why is it up to Fluttershy do help? Do recall that even in Ponyville, Fluttershy isn't the only animal-related person in town. She does have to turn to professionals for help in many aspects of animal activities. And it is part of Equestria culture to control animals just as the pegasi control the weather. Winter Wrap Up has an entire team out of the three dedicated to animals, and as mentioned before, some speech-capable animals are treated as livestock by farmers.

For a problem as large as "a species is in danger of going extinct due to poaching" you're going to have to do some convincing that somehow there isn't already some ponies trying to take care of the problem. You're going to have to convince readers that it is realistic that Fluttershy is relevant to the problem. Interest and a useful talent alone aren't enough. It takes time, work, resources, and so on. Fluttershy is also not really all that suited to police work that might be necessary to take on criminals.

I didn't realize all that carried with the term "poaching". I suppose like anything, people can be motivated by more then greed to hurt animals. This seems like a project that's to big for me to handle right now, but I appreciate your input.

Thank you for opening my eyes a bit. I can't say I completely agree with poaching as a practice, but I suppose I can't judge it to harshly in some contexts. Thanks again for the insite.