Canned hunting preserves are private hunting grounds that charge customers to shoot exotic and/or native animals within an enclosure. The animals killed in canned hunts come from breeders, animal dealers, and unethical zoos. The animals often have no fear of people and are shot when they exhibit conditioned behavior like coming to be fed or groomed. Canned hunts currently take place at up to 1,000 private facilities in nearly 30 states.
Sadly, Federal Animal Welfare Act laws don't apply to private hunting preserves and ranches. And though the Endangered Species Act was supposed to protect endangered and threatened species, the Fish & Wildlife Service currently allows both the private ownership and canned hunting of endangered animals.
Canned hunting is profitable because unwanted exotic animals are both cheap and easy to come by and there are plenty of customers that will pay big dollars for a guaranteed kill. The animals being shot cannot escape from their enclosure and in many cases don’t fear humans. These exotic trophies are often older animals that no longer draw crowds at zoos or have grown too big to be safely kept as exotic pets.
A federal ban on canned hunts is not about guns or gun control, nor is it about subsistence hunting. Many hunters abhor the practice of canned hunting, believing it dishonors the concept of hunting for these reasons; the animal has no chance to escape, no skill (only money) is needed to succeed, and the practice is not related to obtaining food. In fact, canned “hunting” has nothing to do with hunting; it’s simply a violent fantasy for the unskilled. A person paying to shoot a tame animal within an enclosed space is not hunting any more than a person attending a baseball fantasy camp is playing in the big leagues! Real hunters could do nothing better to further their claims of respecting wildlife than by acting together to stop canned hunts.
Banning canned hunts is not the elite imposing on the rights of working and middle-class Americans. The true elite are the customers paying exorbitant sums of money to shoot tame animals. Taking part in a canned hunt is expensive and in many cases includes the use of helicopters, sophisticated (and pricey) tracking equipment and paid guides.
Finally, there is nothing masculine or honorable about killing innocent creatures in caged enclosures. It is a practice that sometimes even involves using mothers as “targets”. Mothers are separated from their babies so that they can be easily shot when released to respond to the cries of her children. Sadly, canned hunting may be the most shameful type of organized animal cruelty in the United States.
WHAT YOU CAN DO TO STOP CANNED HUNT
UNITED STATES
Contact your representatives in the Congress and Senate and tell them you want laws passed to ban interstate and foreign commerce of captive exotic animals to be shot at “canned hunts”
Contact your elected officials here:
http://www.congress.org/congressorg/home/
INTERNATIONALLY
Do not travel to or buy products made in countries that allow canned hunting. Contact the office of tourism and/or trade for each country and explain to them your reason for boycotting travel and trade with their country.