Posted on 02/02/2008 10:28:10 AM PST by Cagey
Hunting live animals online will soon be illegal in Florida.
On Wednesday, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission is expected to approve a ban on the practice, making Florida the 35th state to prohibit "Internet hunting," Local 6 News partner Florida Today reported.
The ban would take effect July 1.
"I think, just overall, we felt it was wrong," said Henry Cabbage, a commission spokesman.
The concept was pioneered three years ago by a Texas entrepreneur who set up an operation where would-be hunters could shoot Barbary sheep, wild boar and other animals at a game ranch using a Web cam. Texas officials shut down his operation in 2005, when legislators banned Internet hunting.
Generally, "cyber hunters" steer a camera and rifle with their mouse, shooting at game in real time from a computer anywhere.
Animals are typically penned on ranches and lured to a feeding station within range of a rifle mounted on a tripod. As the animal approaches, the desktop hunter uses the mouse to line up the crosshairs and then presses the button to fire. Guides at the game ranch can assist if the shot misses or fails to kill the animal.
At the Texas game ranch, the hunting experience was completed by trophy mounts that were shipped to the customers, who for an additional fee could have the meat sent along, as well.
Advocates of Internet hunting say it's a way for the disabled to enjoy hunting.
But pro-hunting groups say it violates their ethic of a "fair chase."
In 2005, Virginia became the first state to ban the practice. Thirty-three other states have since followed suit.
Florida wildlife officials don't know of anyone hunting online in the state but want a ban in place before anyone tries.
Under the proposed Florida rule, Internet hunting or hunting via remote control would be prohibited by anyone not physically present at the location of the gun.
"It's truly a pre-emptive measure to prevent these types of operations from opening," said Andrew Page, director of the Humane Society of the United States' hunting campaign. "It was a bad idea run amok."
Watch Local 6 News for more on this story.
Are they lacking backbone due to chronic wasting disease?
Or is it the other way around?
They are safe because they have no backbone?
Please advise.
Laws restricting the way a game is played on private property, with no safety issues, makes sense?
It makes no difference to the animal how the trigger is pulled.
Lets concede it is not the right way to hunt from an old school point of view, lets just talk about welcoming government rule making in game playing. This reminds me of Judge fiddling with the rules for another great sport, golf, when it came to using a cart.
What is next Federal law concerning free parking in Monopoly?
Hunt what you eat, eat what you shoot!
That being said....YUCK!!!!!
Yeah...but they are full of $h!t.
“As the animal approaches, the desktop hunter uses the mouse to line up the crosshairs and then presses the button to fire. Guides at the game ranch can assist if the shot misses or fails to kill the animal.”
But looks like anybody can just click the mouse without any skill because if you miss a human guide goes ahead and offs the animal for you.
great idea for a virtual fence.
Help. I’m confused. These must be real animals if the Humane Society is involved. But do the humans at the game range then proceed to gut and dress out the animals and send the meat to the computer user? As delicious as venison is it would be expensive and quite something to receive an entire pile of deer, probably frozen, at your doorstep. You better be ready for a place to store it indeed. I wonder if you can get the head on a wall plaque or the hooves to tie on top of your computer monitor to complete the ambiance?
I don't even agree with that. You can get just the same enjoyment watching a video or a DVD of hunting.
If you can't face the animal you are killing, be like me, go fishing.
“At the Texas game ranch, the hunting experience was completed by trophy mounts that were shipped to the customers, who for an additional fee could have the meat sent along, as well.”
Did you actually read the article?
“Did you actually read the article?”
You know I did and I kept going back to it too, because it seemed so strange to me. I don’t know why I kept skipping that paragraph. Or it did not sink in. Good thing I’m not signing documents for the Pentagon!
We have decided who we’re not going to vote for,,pickins’ sure are slim though
We were thinking it might work well to put one of these systems on the border... maybe with rubber bullets, or paint balls.
LOL!
Or, maybe we could just fire millions of 20 dollar bills over the border. That would certainly cost less than what it does now.
I am in favor of this! Can we make it happen?
¡ow! ¡ow! Por favor señor -- no más -- iremos de nuevo a nuestra aldea y le dejaremos solo
I used babelfish to translate: ow! ow! Please mister -- no more -- we will go back to our village and leave you alone -- into Spanish. I'm sure something got lost in the translation...
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