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Stacking the Hunt (canned hunting is more than crass — it's cruel)
New York Times ^
| December 9, 2003
| WAYNE PACELLE
Posted on 12/09/2003 7:11:23 AM PST by presidio9
W
ASHINGTON This fall, more than 10 million Americans went hunting. Some met with success, maybe even managing to bring home some ducks or geese or a deer. Of those who returned empty-handed, many did so with the knowledge that a fair hunt comes with no guarantees.
A growing number of people, however, are embracing a different set of rules they're taking part in hunts that are largely rigged. In the United States, there are at least 4,000 "canned hunting" operations, where people may pay thousands of dollars to pursue trophy animals that have little chance to escape. Bird-shooting operations offer pheasants, quail, partridges and mallard ducks, sometimes dizzying the birds and planting them in front of hunters or tossing them from towers toward waiting shotguns.
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At ranches catering to big-game enthusiasts, hunters can shoot exotic species native to five continents everything from addax to zebra. "Tired of traveling, spending money and coming home with nothing to show for it?" reads an advertisement on the Web site for Old Stone Fence Hunting Adventures in Rensselaer Falls, N.Y. "Book your successful trophy hunt today! . . . No license required; no harvest no charge." Though enterprises like this claim to offer "fair chase" hunts, the promise is hollow, since the animals are confined in fences and the money changes hands only if the hunter gets a trophy.
How does an Arabian oryx or a Russian boar find its way to a hunting ground in Pennsylvania or Texas? Many are obtained at exotic animal auctions. A sale at one auction last year included zebras, camels, ostriches, kangaroos and lion cubs some destined for canned hunts, some for private collections. The three-day sale of 3,225 animals brought in more than $1.5 million.
Of course, no one would expect someone like me a person who works for the Humane Society to support canned hunting. But in this fight, animal advocates are not alone. A good many hunters also find the practice abhorrent. In its 2003 national hunting survey, Field & Stream magazine asked readers what they thought about hunting animals "in enclosures or fenced-in ranches." Sixty-five percent of those who responded opposed the practice; 12 percent endorsed it and 23 percent said they had no opinion. Game ranches have also been denounced by a number of outdoor sporting groups, including the Izaak Walton League of America, the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation and the Boone and Crockett Club, which oversees national hunting records.
The hunts go on, though, in part because they have the support of the National Rifle Association and Safari Club International, a pre-eminent trophy hunting organization.
In fact, it's the Safari Club's award program that helps to drive patronage of canned hunting operations. To win the club's Africa Big Five award, for example, you have to go to Africa to shoot the elephant, the rhinoceros and the leopard, but you can pick off the Cape buffalo and the lion in the United States. There is even an award for Introduced Trophy Animals of North America, in which you can do all your hunting for 18 different species right here at home. In fact, you can shoot all of the species for an award category at just one place. It's one-stop shopping. No more expensive fortnights in the wilds of Africa and no one to know whether the head mounted above the mantel came from Asia or Oklahoma.
But canned hunting is more than crass it's cruel. Animals are sometimes drugged, shot in their cages or at a feeder, or killed slowly with spears. Despite this, only 13 states have passed laws to ban canned hunts involving mammals. This year, New York almost passed such a law, but it was vetoed in August by Gov. George Pataki. New York lawmakers should try again. And so should legislators in other states and in Congress, which has the authority to ban the interstate transport of exotic mammals destined for canned hunts.
Canned hunting belongs in the same category as other forms of animal abuse, like cockfighting and bullfighting. It's hard on animals and easy on people and it should be against the law.
TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial; Miscellaneous; Philosophy
KEYWORDS: animalrights; hunting
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To: d-back; elbucko
If you value hunting, don't fall for this nonsense and support a ban on so-called "canned" hunts. Like "assault" weapons, it's part of an incrementalist strategy.
I had to read this statement TWICE to realize that you WEREN'T advocating such a ban.
To: beezdotcom
"Don't fall for this nonsense." STOP "Don't support a ban on so-called canned hunts." STOP
How's that?
22
posted on
12/09/2003 8:11:17 AM PST
by
d-back
To: ChrisCoolC
I don't either, in general, except that some (perhaps most) of these people are horrible shots, and end up mangling the animal before it finally dies.
But again, if this bothers you, don't eat ANY meat, since there are undoubtedly hundreds of less-than-clean kills daily amongst the many thousands in slaughterhouses around the country.
Again, if this bothers you (the abstract 'you', not the personal 'you'), don't support ANY hunting, because these same people aren't going to do any better when they go "real" hunting - in THAT case, the wounded animal might successfully drag itself out of range to suffer an even MORE prolonged agony.
All this to say that I think "canned" hunting is pretty sissified, but I don't support banning it.
To: d-back
LOL...much better for simpletons like me!
To: presidio9
The fact that you are in a high position in the Humane Society does not diminish what you have to say about canned hunts.I myself shot and had a rug made of an eleven hundred pound Grizzly and a two hundred and forty pound Black Bear while stationed in Alaska in 1970. I was alone both times although others were in my hunting-fishing parties,one would be a fool to hunt big game without at least one companion. Now as far as those who hunt under controlled conditions I can only say that they are either lazy,inept or cowardly.However a real hunter or fisherman does not desire a sure thing,I know this from personal experience and that of my friends, our enjoyment is in the hunt not the kill,I say this for myself and those I go afield with,how others think I cannot comment on although I have been with people that were cruel and wasteful and with whom I would no longer associate with as far as hunting and fishing were concerned.I might also add that there is a up side to these exotic hunts,such as the fact that a demand for such animals will ensure their survival.That may sound selfish or even cruel however it does more to perpetuate a species than all the wailing and hand wringing I see from PETA or the AHS....Would I do a canned hunt? Only if the target were Ben Laden or his ilk. Is that being blood thirsty or inhumane...Ask him,he is the expert.
To: elbucko
While I agree in principle, and I don't ever hire a guide, and insist on tying my own flies and loading my own ammo, still I must disagree with your conclusion.
Firstly, it runs counter to the truism that if it flies, floats or fornicates, then it is cheaper to rent it. And we are free market supporters, aren't we?
Secondly, the animals in the "hunts" are not going to be supported for the rest of their lives by sweet lil' grannies willing to foot the bills for their upkeep.
Lions, for example, breed like alley cats. Got kittens? How about lion kittens? Think any neighbor will give them a home?
As for the spear hunting, any hunter using a spear on a lion may so do without intereference from me. Such a hunter is either a vastly better hunter than I or is channelling an ancient Norse berserker.
In the latter case, can I watch when the PETA Person starts the usual badmouthing at the next spear hunt? Please?? Can I bring my camcorder???
26
posted on
12/09/2003 8:34:59 AM PST
by
GladesGuru
(In a society predicated upon liberty, it is essential to examine principles - -)
To: presidio9
You might as well play a computer game the way some of these hunts are rigged. The sport is called "HUNTING" not shooting.
27
posted on
12/09/2003 8:35:18 AM PST
by
tiki
Comment #28 Removed by Moderator
To: Papabear47
29
posted on
12/09/2003 8:53:52 AM PST
by
nothingnew
(The pendulum is swinging and the Rats are in the pit!)
To: nothingnew
Thank you.
To: presidio9
Actually, this is nothing new. My dad stopped hunting back in the 50s after he was invited to go "hunting" with a group of guys who sat in a blind, in comfortable chairs, with beers close at hand, and waited for some beaters to herd tame deer through an open shooting area.
"Hunters" like this need to become targets. IMHO.
31
posted on
12/09/2003 9:29:30 AM PST
by
r9etb
To: farmfriend
ping
To: presidio9; AAABEST; Ace2U; Alamo-Girl; Alas; alfons; amom; AndreaZingg; Anonymous2; ...
Rights, farms, environment ping.
Let me know if you wish to be added or removed from this list.
I don't get offended if you want to be removed.
33
posted on
12/09/2003 10:10:42 AM PST
by
farmfriend
( Isaiah 55:10,11)
To: farmfriend
BTTT!!!!!
34
posted on
12/09/2003 10:11:46 AM PST
by
E.G.C.
To: Kenton
Why even call it hunting? This is no more sporting than walking out to the pasture and shooting a cow. It I were to hunt exotic game, 90% of the fun would be going to exotic places. The other 10% would be trying to get your gun and trophies back into the U.S. through customs.
35
posted on
12/09/2003 10:32:42 AM PST
by
Blood of Tyrants
(Even if the government took all your earnings, you wouldn’t be, in its eyes, a slave.)
To: Big Midget
"Sure, we could outlaw all these 'canned' hunting operations. But if we do, where does a guy like me go to kill koalas and pandas?"
To: Blood of Tyrants
Why even call it hunting? This is no more sporting than walking out to the pasture and shooting a cow I didn't stand up for the practice. I just sneered at the article because it was written by Cleveland Amory's buttboy Wayne Pacelli. I will usually find some way to take issue with nearly everything one of these animal-rights zealots stand for.
37
posted on
12/09/2003 10:41:15 AM PST
by
Kenton
(This space for rent)
To: GladesGuru
Spear hunters are pussys. Real men and women strangle their kills.
To: presidio9
"Many are obtained at exotic animal auctions. A sale at one auction last year included zebras, camels, ostriches, kangaroos and lion cubs"
And those who bought the animals and ran the shows were promptly busted.
I agree caging an animal up so you can 'hunt' it is a 'sport' for wussies. Real hunters don't do such things.
39
posted on
12/09/2003 10:46:10 AM PST
by
MEGoody
To: presidio9
But in this fight, animal advocates are not alone. A good many hunters also find the practice abhorrent. Count me in that category. I have been a hunter for 20+ years. If I manage to get a shot at a deer, it is because I have prepared and am somewhat lucky. A deer 'harvested' by me or my friends is food on the table.
What these people are doing is not hunting. It is a twisted arcade game with live animals ... essentially, organized poaching.
40
posted on
12/09/2003 10:48:57 AM PST
by
spodefly
(This is my tagline. There are many like it, but this one is mine.)
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