Canned Hunts : No Sport At All
Legalized slaughter. Does your state permit this?
CANNED HUNTS
THE ULTIMATE SPORT fOR COWARDS
From the Fund for Animals website & used with permission.
Sample Letters What is a Canned Hunt Hail to the Chief
The Zoo Connection Hunters Divided What You Can Do
Official guidelines of the American Zoo and Aquarium Association (AZA)
"Animals, raised by humans, now sold to canned hunts, may lick your hand before they are brutally slain."
Hunter Paid $275 bounty for the Head of a
Black Hawaiian Ram.
After a guide drove the ram directly into the path of his client, the hunter shot the trapped animal with an arrow at point-blank range. The wounded ram, with an arrow sticking out of his hindquarters and shaking uncontrollably, backed up against the fence that forced him to stay close to his killers. A shot to the head might have meant a quick kill, but would have spoiled the eventual trophy. So the hunter repeatedly took aim at the ram's body, and the animal writhed in pain for four minutes before dying. (To Love or Kill: Man vs. Animal," America Undercover, Home Box Office, April 1996)
Across the United States, animal protectionist groups like the Fund for Animals have worked to ban canned hunts.
Success was achieved recently with a Texas ban on shooting bears, lions, elephants, rhinoceroses, and other large mammals on fenced-in preserves. No bill to restrict hunting of any kind -- no matter how indefensible a hunt -- had ever made its way through the Texas legislature before this historic achievement.
Pennsylvania Has Not Prohibited Canned Hunt Preserves but other states have. Number of Canned Hunts Per State
The following states have banned or restricted canned hunts or prohibited the use of certain species:
* California
* New Jersey
* New York
* Oregon
* Rhode Island
* Texas
* Wisconsin
What Is A Canned Hunt?
From Asian sheep to African lions to European boars, exotic and native animals are shot for trophies at thousands of "canned" hunting preserves scattered across the US - many in Pennsylvania.
A canned hunt takes place on a fenced piece of private property where a hunter can pay a fee to shoot a captive animal. Canned hunts may take place on properties ranging in size from less than 100 acres to a 650 acre game ranch.
Prices for a hunt may range from several hundred to several thousand dollars per kill.
The Renegade Ranch in Michigan, for example, charges $350 for a Corsican ram, $450 for a Russian boar, $750 for a blackbuck antelope, $3,000 for a buffalo, and $5,500 for a trophy elk. According to its brochure, "Many exotic animals not listed are available upon request." Some shooting preserves charge up to $20,000 for a lion or a rhinoceros.
Either bred in captivity, purchased from animal dealers, or retired from zoos and circuses, these tame animals do not even run when approached by weapon-wielding hunters. Shooting preserves offer guaranteed trophies and advertise as "No Kill, No Pay." The animals are so tame, in fact, that one hunter stated, "Before being harvested,' African lions raised as pets would amble over and lick your hand."
The Zoo Connection
Many zoos -- even the nation's most prestigious like the National Zoo in Washington ,D.C. (part of the Smithsonian)-- sell their "surplus" animals either directly to canned hunting preserves or to middlemen and dealers who later sell to the hunts.
Because baby animals are popular, zoos continue to breed their animals. But space is limited, and for every baby born an adult animal must leave. Zoos generally claim they do not know what happens to the animals they sell. But some, such as the San Antonio Zoo, sell their animals openly and even include owners of canned hunting facilities on their board of directors. San Antonio Zoological Society board member Betty S. Kelso and her husband Robert own the Auerhahn Ranch in Texas, and have purchased exotic animals directly from the zoo for years.
(Michael Winikoff, "Blowing the Lid off Canned Hunts," HSUS News, Summer 1994)
Based on an investigation by The Humane Society of the United States, the following zoos have sold animals either directly to canned hunts or to dealers who have done business with auctions or hunts.
Links are sites where the zoo can be emailed. Email HSUS your comments regarding the HSUS research documenting the fact that this zoo has sold animals to canned hunt preserves or dealers. Insist that the zoo never sell another animal to a canned hunt preserve or dealer. Threaten to boycott this zoo (actually all zoos should be boycotted anyway). Be sure to include your address.
Buffalo Zoological Gardens (NY)
Busch Gardens (FL)
Cheyenne Mountain Zoo (CO)
4250 Cheyenne Mountain Zoo Road Colorado Springs, CO 80906 Phone(719)633-9925 Fax (719)633-2254
Great Adventure
The official guidelines of the American Zoo and Aquarium Association (AZA)
(NJ)
Six Flags Great Adventure Route 537 Jackson, NJ 08527
PH: 732-928-1821
Houston Zoo (TX) Email
Houston Zoological Gardens 1513 N. MacGregor Houston, TX 77030
Phone 713-284-1355
Kansas City Zoo (MO)
6700 Zoo Drive Kansas City, MO 64132
Phone (816)513-5700
Lake George Zoological Park (NY) - Not listed
Lincoln Park Zoo (IL)
Lincoln Park Zoo 2001 N. Clark St. Chicago, IL 60614
Phone 312/742-2000
Los Angeles Zoo (CA)
5333 Zoo Drive Los Angeles, California 90027-1498
Phone 323/644-6400
Lowry Park Zoo (FL) Email
7530 North Boulevard Tampa, FL 33604-4756
Phone (813) 935-8552
Memphis Zoo (TN) Email
Phone (901) 276-WILD
National Zoo (DC)
Northwest Washington, D.C., at 3001 Connecticut Avenue
Phone 202-673-4717
Oklahoma City Zoo (OK) Email
Northeast 50th Street and Martin Luther King Boulevard
San Antonio Zoo (TX)
San Diego Zoo (CA) Email
Phone Zoo (619) 231-1515 Wild Animal Park (760) 747-8702
San Francisco Zoo (CA)
Seneca Park Zoo (NY)
St. Louis Zoo (MO)
Suwannee Valley Zoo (FL)
States: "The AZA strongly opposes the sale, trade, or transfer of animals from zoos and aquariums to organizations or individuals which allow the hunting of animals directly from or bred at zoos or aquariums." But the policy is meaningless since all shooting preserves or dealer middlemen can claim their clients do not hunt animals "directly from or bred at zoos," but rather hunt the offspring of those animals. Moreover, there are more than 15,000 animal exhibitors in the US and only 160 belong to the AZA. The thousands of petting zoos, roadside zoos, and smaller exhibitors have no reason to and don't adhere to these AZA suggestions.
SEE A LIST OF ZOOS & ANIMAL PARKS
Hail to the Chief
Cheney in region for a day of small-game hunting
Tuesday, December 09, 2003
By Rebekah Scott, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/03343/249105.stm he has himself flown over, in Air Force 2, on the taxpayer's tab, accompanied by his most favoritest shotgun, to the exclusive
Rolling Rock Club in Ligonier, Westmoreland County, in rural Pennsylvania, to have himself a nice, cushy "canned" pheasant hunt
Because most rank-and-file hunters cannot afford hundreds of dollars per trophy, canned hunts have become the privileged playgrounds of the wealthy elite.
Doctors and lawyers trek from the suburbs for a weekend killing spree, and high-priced lobbyists entertain politicians on shooting preserves. Canned hunting preserves have begun to rival golf courses as favorite landscapes while wheeling and dealing.
President George Bush celebrated his victory after the 1988 election at the Lazy F Ranch near Beeville, Texas.
"These aren't animals, these are wild quail," he later responded to criticism. President Bush apparently never studied the Animal Kingdom, and has an odd definition of "wild" that includes captive birds who were hand-fed and raised in pens. President Bill Clinton hunted on shooting preserves during his presidency. Two days after Christmas in 1993, President Clinton killed a captive-bred mallard duck on a Maryland shooting preserve owned by lobbyist John W. Tieder, Jr. Tieder is the treasurer of DUCPAC, a pro-hunting political action committee that has given over $35,000 in campaign contributions to political candidates.
These "regulated shooting areas," or RSAs, raise and hand-feed ducks and release them to be shot by the thousands. President Clinton's own US Fish and Wildlife Service is considering proposals to restrict or possibly ban the release of captive ducks for fear of spreading diseases to wild bird
populations. Forty-nine state wildlife agencies -- all butMaryland's -- have condemned the release of captive waterfowl. Other politicians and celebrities have been known to spend their leisure time shooting tame animals. Massachusetts Governor William Weld killed a boar "in a fenced hunting club where basic membership costs $100,000." And waning rock star Ted Nugent owns a shooting preserve, Sunrize Acres in Michigan, where he can kill captive animals to his heart's content.
Hunters Divided
Even hunters have difficulty justifying canned hunts.
One hunter recalls: "I had the experience of taking part in a 'hunt' on a commercial game preserve in California. We paid our money, watched while the 'wild' turkeys were taken from their pen, and followed along as the birds were set loose along a brushy hillside for us to hunt. The bird my buddy and I were assigned flew straight toward us and took cover in a dense bush only yards away. We tried to flush it, but the panicked bird wouldn't budge. I reached into the tangle and
pulled it out by its neck, feeling as foolish as the turkey was scared. We repeated this embarrassing sequence three or four times before putting the bird out of its misery and bringing this caricature of hunting to a pitiful close."
As Sports Afield columnist Ted Kerasote has repeatedly criticized that "ignoring the cancer within our ranks is indefensible and makes us hypocrites in the eyes of nonhunters."If hunters speak out against this unsporting slaughter, why have canned hunts not been eliminated? Because powerful hunting lobbyist groups such as the
National Rifle Association and Safari Club International -- which erroneously claim to represent the interests of all hunters -- fight tooth and nail against any measure that would restrict any type of hunting, no matter how repugnant.
WHAT YOU CAN DO
#1.Email/Write/Call/Fax your Senator and Representative. States that allow canned hunts can purchase exotic animals from any state. Federal legislation is needed to stop the interstate commerce in animals for the purpose of
shooting them on fenced-in preserves.
Contact your Legislator Capitol switchboard at (202) 224-3121
Ask your U.S. Representative to support H.R. 1202 to ban the canned hunting of exotic mammals, and
Ask your two U.S. Senators to support the companion bill,
S. 1345.
Find your Congressmen (women) by zip code
#2 Ask them to support legislation to ban canned hunts.
Find your state legislators
#3. Send a letter to your local newspaper.
Be sure to include your name, address and phone number.
#4. Email to the Philadelphia Inquirer
#5. Contact your local zoo and ask them how they dispose of surplus zoo animals. Pursue an answer. Beware, you may not get an honest one.
SAMPLE LETTER FOR U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Dear Representative __________________,
I urge to support H.R. 1202 - a first step in banning the canned hunting of animals. Deer, tiger, lions, and many surplus zoo and exotic animals are either bred for or sold to canned hunt preserves where cowardly hunters pay for the "privilege" of killing them in a fenced area for their trophy value. This unsporting practice of killing tame animals in fenced-in enclosures must be stopped.
Sincerely yours,
SAMPLE LETTER FOR U.S. SENATE
Dear Senator___________________,
I urge to support S. 1345 - a first step in banning the canned hunting of animals. Deer, tiger, lions, and many surplus zoo and exotic animals are either bred for or sold to canned hunt preserves where cowardly hunters pay for the "privilege" of killing them in a fenced area for their trophy value. This unsporting practice of killing tame animals in fenced-in enclosures must be stopped.
Sincerely yours,
SAMPLE LETTER FOR STATE LEGISLATORS
Dear Representative or Senator___________________,
I urge to support legislation to ban the canned hunting of all animals. Deer, tiger, lions, and many surplus zoo and exotic animals are either bred for or sold to canned hunt preserves where cowardly hunters pay for the "privilege" of killing them in a fenced area for their trophy value. This
unsporting practice of killing tame animals in fenced-in enclosures must be stopped.
Sincerely yours,
Re: Canned Hunts : No Sport At All
[QUOTE]Originally posted by lizbud
[B]
Hunter Paid $275 bounty for the Head of a
Black Hawaiian Ram.
After a guide drove the ram directly into the path of his client, the hunter shot the trapped animal with an arrow at point-blank range. The wounded ram, with an arrow sticking out of his hindquarters and shaking uncontrollably, backed up against the fence that forced him to stay close to his killers. A shot to the head might have meant a quick kill, but would have spoiled the eventual trophy. So the hunter repeatedly took aim at the ram's body, and the animal writhed in pain for four minutes before dying. (To Love or Kill: Man vs. Animal," America Undercover, Home Box Office, April 1996)
" most rank-and-file hunters cannot afford hundreds of dollars per trophy, canned hunts have become the privileged playgrounds of the wealthy elite.
Doctors and lawyers trek from the suburbs for a weekend killing spree, and high-priced lobbyists entertain politicians on shooting preserves. Canned hunting preserves have begun to rival golf courses as favorite landscapes while wheeling and dealing.
President George Bush celebrated his victory after the 1988 election at the Lazy F Ranch near Beeville, Texas.
"These aren't animals, these are wild quail," he later responded to criticism. President Bush apparently never studied the Animal Kingdom, and has an odd definition of "wild" that includes captive birds who were hand-fed and raised in pens. President Bill Clinton hunted on shooting preserves during his presidency. Two days after Christmas in 1993, President Clinton killed a captive-bred mallard duck on a Maryland shooting preserve owned by lobbyist John W. Tieder, Jr. Tieder is the treasurer of DUCPAC, a pro-hunting political action committee that has given over $35,000 in campaign contributions to political candidates.
B/QUOTE]
Thanks for your comments YLL. It does seem like most regular
hunters are against this sort of thing too. They think "canned
hunts" give American hunters a bad name, & they're right.
Thanks Kater for volunteering to write again & others for their
concern.
2nd Amendment rights aside, I don't see how anyone can call
shooting fenced or tethered animals a hunt at all. It's legalized
slaughter and it's wrong. IMO. Liz.
