John Olexa
03-12-2005, 10:32 PM
WASHINGTON - In the wake of news reports that so-called "Internet hunting" has fired its first shot and claimed its first victim, The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) is calling on state lawmakers and Congress to respond quickly and ban the appalling activity.
The scheme operates like a computer game where a person can point and shoot a rifle via remote control, though the rifle is real and so is the killing of animals in what amounts to a video-monitored canned hunt. The desktop hunter pays several hundred dollars or several thousand, not including taxidermy and shipping of his trophy.
"What started as a depraved idea has apparently become a sickening reality," said Wayne Pacelle, president and CEO of The HSUS. "This is a snuff film scenario in which animals will be senselessly killed for the voyeuristic pleasure of someone sitting at a keyboard. It is pay-per-view slaughter. This remotely delivered cruelty should be shut down and outlawed immediately."
According to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, a San Antonio hunter used his home computer to fire a remote rifle and kill a wild boar, becoming the first online customer of a 220-acre Texas canned hunt stocked with captive exotic animals. The Internet hunting site received nationwide attention when the plan was announced last November, but at the time the remote system was not yet operational for shooting live animals.
Since then, the Virginia legislature has passed the first bill banning Internet hunting (HB 2273 and SB 1083), which awaits the Governor's signature, and similar bills are pending in Alabama (SB 302 and HB 557), California (SB 1028), Hawaii (SB 1424), Maine (LD 50), Michigan (HB 4465), New York (S 2822), Oregon (HB 2528, SB 389), Tennessee (HB 1268, SB 1505, and SB 1895), Texas (HB 391), and West Virginia (HB 2890). The HSUS is pushing the introduction of bills in other states, too.
Texas is believed to be home to the most canned hunting operations in the United States. Clients pay large sums of money to participate in canned hunts, which take place in a confined area from which the animal cannot escape. Most of the victims are exotic (non-indigenous) animals, including several varieties of goats and sheep; numerous species of Asian and African antelope; deer, cattle, and swine; and bears, zebra, and sometimes even big cats. The HSUS estimates there are more than 1,000 canned hunting operations in at least 25 states nationwide.
"Internet hunting puts a whole new spin on the canned hunt business," said Pacelle. "States should urgently prohibit people from participating in or operating Internet hunts within their own borders, and Congress should immediately act to prohibit the interstate and foreign commerce of these cruel and unsporting video shooting galleries."
Given the interstate nature of the activity, a federal response is warranted and appropriate. The Congress in 1999 passed legislation banning the interstate sale of videos depicting extreme acts of cruelty.
In addition to animal welfare concerns, Internet hunting raises important questions for public safety and homeland security. Pacelle added, "With the recent news reports of terror suspects on federal watch lists having easy access to firearms, why would we make it even easier for these people to inflict their terror by experimenting with the idea of remote shooting with the aid of the Internet?"
The scheme operates like a computer game where a person can point and shoot a rifle via remote control, though the rifle is real and so is the killing of animals in what amounts to a video-monitored canned hunt. The desktop hunter pays several hundred dollars or several thousand, not including taxidermy and shipping of his trophy.
"What started as a depraved idea has apparently become a sickening reality," said Wayne Pacelle, president and CEO of The HSUS. "This is a snuff film scenario in which animals will be senselessly killed for the voyeuristic pleasure of someone sitting at a keyboard. It is pay-per-view slaughter. This remotely delivered cruelty should be shut down and outlawed immediately."
According to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, a San Antonio hunter used his home computer to fire a remote rifle and kill a wild boar, becoming the first online customer of a 220-acre Texas canned hunt stocked with captive exotic animals. The Internet hunting site received nationwide attention when the plan was announced last November, but at the time the remote system was not yet operational for shooting live animals.
Since then, the Virginia legislature has passed the first bill banning Internet hunting (HB 2273 and SB 1083), which awaits the Governor's signature, and similar bills are pending in Alabama (SB 302 and HB 557), California (SB 1028), Hawaii (SB 1424), Maine (LD 50), Michigan (HB 4465), New York (S 2822), Oregon (HB 2528, SB 389), Tennessee (HB 1268, SB 1505, and SB 1895), Texas (HB 391), and West Virginia (HB 2890). The HSUS is pushing the introduction of bills in other states, too.
Texas is believed to be home to the most canned hunting operations in the United States. Clients pay large sums of money to participate in canned hunts, which take place in a confined area from which the animal cannot escape. Most of the victims are exotic (non-indigenous) animals, including several varieties of goats and sheep; numerous species of Asian and African antelope; deer, cattle, and swine; and bears, zebra, and sometimes even big cats. The HSUS estimates there are more than 1,000 canned hunting operations in at least 25 states nationwide.
"Internet hunting puts a whole new spin on the canned hunt business," said Pacelle. "States should urgently prohibit people from participating in or operating Internet hunts within their own borders, and Congress should immediately act to prohibit the interstate and foreign commerce of these cruel and unsporting video shooting galleries."
Given the interstate nature of the activity, a federal response is warranted and appropriate. The Congress in 1999 passed legislation banning the interstate sale of videos depicting extreme acts of cruelty.
In addition to animal welfare concerns, Internet hunting raises important questions for public safety and homeland security. Pacelle added, "With the recent news reports of terror suspects on federal watch lists having easy access to firearms, why would we make it even easier for these people to inflict their terror by experimenting with the idea of remote shooting with the aid of the Internet?"