"The overseas hunter fired another shot. She slumped to the ground in a crumpled heap. Both times, the hunter shot from a vehicle. He then posed with the dead lioness and pulled at her mouth to show her teeth."
Friday, August 24, 2012
Wednesday, August 15, 2012
Sunday, August 12, 2012
Saturday, August 11, 2012
Monday, July 30, 2012
Sunday, July 15, 2012
What we're about....
What we're about
Submitted by admin on Sun, 10/31/2010 - 12:44
Welcome to the website of THE CAMPAIGN AGAINST CANNED HUNTING and THE KOUGA WILDLIFE REHAB CENTRE & SANCTUARY
The Campaign Against Canned Hunting (CACH), is a registered Section 21 charity (2006/036885/08) and Public Benefit organisation. PBO number: 930030402The overall aim of the organisation is to promote animal welfare but for practical and historic reasons, CACH focuses on the following issues:-
BAN TROPHY HUNTING
The mission is to get all trophy hunting banned in South Africa, since all trophy hunting in South Africa is canned to a greater or lesser extent. To that end, CACH has put together a comprehensive audio visual presentation which has been shown to thousands of people from all walks of life in South Africa, Kenya and U.K. Find out more about this issue.
BAN GIN TRAPS
The on going indiscriminate slaughter of wild animals by farmers acting in the belief that they are protecting their livestock is a major threat to wildlife. Non lethal alternatives are available and CACH has actively promoted the banning of gin traps and the abolition of the vermin laws in South Africa, both by legal proceedings all the way to the Constitutional Court, and by animal advocacy in the media. Find out more about this issue.
KOUGA WILDLIFE REHABILITATION CENTRE & SANCTUARY
The Kouga Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre (KWRC)is a project of CACH and its aim is to work hands on with orphaned and injured wild animals at the sanctuary in the Kouga Mountains. Forming part of the vast Baviaanskloof Mega Reserve, which stretches from Addo Elephant Park near Port Elizabeth to the Tsitsikama Forest in the east, the centre is ideally situated to release all endemic species back to the wild on its own door step. Find out more about the sanctuary.http://www.cannedlion.org/
Monday, May 7, 2012
Louisiana § 115. Possession of Potentially Dangerous Wild Quadrupeds, Big Exotic Cats, and Non-Human Primates
Please always feel free to click on link below where information was found.
Louisiana § 115. Possession of Potentially Dangerous Wild Quadrupeds, Big Exotic Cats, and Non-Human Primates
Louisiana § 115. Possession of Potentially Dangerous Wild Quadrupeds, Big Exotic Cats, and Non-Human Primates
Sunday, April 29, 2012
Animal Advocates Gain Formal Protection for African Antelopes Captive and Trophy-Hunted in U.S. - WildEarth Guardians
Animal Advocates Gain Formal Protection for African Antelopes Captive and Trophy-Hunted in U.S.
Animal Advocates Gain Formal Protection for African Antelopes Captive and Trophy-Hunted in U.S.
Washington, DC – This week marks the conclusion of a long trek to important protection for African antelopes living in the United States. Three African antelope species living in U.S. zoos and on Texas ranches finally have the same protections under the Endangered Species Act as their wild counterparts in Africa.
The publication of a new rule by the Fish and Wildlife Service is the culmination of more than a decade of effort by Friends of Animals to protect scimitar-horned oryx, addax, and dama gazelles. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) will now protect all members of these three species as “endangered”—including those bred in the U.S. and sold for sport-hunting.
These antelope communities are critically endangered in their home territories in northern Africa, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List of Threatened Species. The addax and dama gazelles are nearly wiped out, and scimitar-horned oryx would be virtually extinct, if not for Friends of Animals’ work in protecting them and augmenting their numbers in Senegal. Yet more of these antelopes live on Texas hunting ranches, where they are bred and hunted, than in the wild in Africa.
As early as 1991, the scimitar-horned oryx, dama gazelle, and addax were proposed for ESA protection. Friends of Animals went to the desert of Senegal, Africa, to help the rare antelopes regain footing in their own habitat. In addition, Friends of Animals, with the Environmental Law Clinic at the University of Denver's Sturm College of Law, sued the federal government to list the these antelopes as “endangered” under U.S. law. In September 2005, the FWS did list the three species as “endangered,” noting that desertification, human encroachment, ranching, regional military activity, and hunting imperil these antelopes.
Yet on the same date, the FWS published an exception to the rule removing take and transport prohibitions from the very animals that the United States has the strongest power to protect—those kept by U.S. enterprises. For live antelopes, embryos, gametes, and “sport-hunted trophies” of these three species on U.S. soil, the blanket exemption authorized killing, commercial transport, and interstate or foreign commerce.
All three groups of antelope are protected under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, prohibiting international transport of listed animals (dead, alive, or parts). Shooting these antelopes in Africa and bringing trophies into the U.S. would be illegal. Yet under the exemption, killing them in the U.S. was legal.
Lee Hall, Vice President of Legal Affairs for Friends of Animals, lauded the new rule, saying, “At last these antelopes are free from being handled and killed for kicks. This protects three communities of North African antelopes from being transplanted to or bred into exploitive captivity, and stalked because of their remarkably graceful horns.”
With the blanket exemption in place, a lucrative industry in hunting “popular exotics” and supplying feed, fencing, and taxidermy has continued to operate. FWS accepted arguments that hunting is good for antelope because it provides an incentive for maintaining their populations.
Hall continued, “The publication of this rule ends the preposterous legal fiction that canned hunting ranches protect and propagate endangered species when in reality they are pimping members of species just barely hanging onto life on Earth—in effect, exploiting the ‘endangered’ classification for profit.”
Advocates Strike Back
A court case brought by Friends of Animals and WildEarth Guardians in 2009 challenged the loophole and secured a court order finding that the exemption violated Section 10 of the ESA by letting canned hunting ranches “harm, harass, pursue, hunt, shoot, wound, kill, trap, capture, or collect” members of endangered species. District Judge Henry H. Kennedy, Jr. called blanket exemptions “anathema” to the ESA, and in June 2009 remanded the rule to the FWS for the appropriate change. Change has now come.
“This success is a step forward for all endangered species,” said Taylor Jones, Endangered Species Advocate for WildEarth Guardians. “The ESA is a powerful law, but it cannot work as it was meant to if exemptions are freely granted for any species hunters might want to hang on their wall.”
The pro-hunting Safari Club, represented by house attorney Anna Seidman, wants to set aside the new rule and give tourists the legal prerogative to pay $3,500 or more to kill the 2,000-plus captive antelopes still alive on U.S. ranches.
Friends of Animals’ Lee Hall counters: “While the Endangered Species Act does allow, for example, some movement of listed animals for science-related reasons or to enhance the propagation or survival of the animals—contingent on a public feedback process for each good-faith application—it is not meant to authorize sport-hunting.”
“Hunting these antelopes is no way to save them or treat them with dignity; nor is it a dignified interpretation of the Endangered Species Act,” Hall stated.
Animal Advocates Gain Formal Protection for African Antelopes Captive and Trophy-Hunted in U.S.
Captive antelopes now have the same protections under the Endangered Species Act as their wild counterparts in Africa.
Additional Contact: Lee Hall, Friends of Animals: (610) 964-0090 or leehall@friendsofanimals.orgWashington, DC – This week marks the conclusion of a long trek to important protection for African antelopes living in the United States. Three African antelope species living in U.S. zoos and on Texas ranches finally have the same protections under the Endangered Species Act as their wild counterparts in Africa.
The publication of a new rule by the Fish and Wildlife Service is the culmination of more than a decade of effort by Friends of Animals to protect scimitar-horned oryx, addax, and dama gazelles. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) will now protect all members of these three species as “endangered”—including those bred in the U.S. and sold for sport-hunting.
These antelope communities are critically endangered in their home territories in northern Africa, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List of Threatened Species. The addax and dama gazelles are nearly wiped out, and scimitar-horned oryx would be virtually extinct, if not for Friends of Animals’ work in protecting them and augmenting their numbers in Senegal. Yet more of these antelopes live on Texas hunting ranches, where they are bred and hunted, than in the wild in Africa.
As early as 1991, the scimitar-horned oryx, dama gazelle, and addax were proposed for ESA protection. Friends of Animals went to the desert of Senegal, Africa, to help the rare antelopes regain footing in their own habitat. In addition, Friends of Animals, with the Environmental Law Clinic at the University of Denver's Sturm College of Law, sued the federal government to list the these antelopes as “endangered” under U.S. law. In September 2005, the FWS did list the three species as “endangered,” noting that desertification, human encroachment, ranching, regional military activity, and hunting imperil these antelopes.
Yet on the same date, the FWS published an exception to the rule removing take and transport prohibitions from the very animals that the United States has the strongest power to protect—those kept by U.S. enterprises. For live antelopes, embryos, gametes, and “sport-hunted trophies” of these three species on U.S. soil, the blanket exemption authorized killing, commercial transport, and interstate or foreign commerce.
All three groups of antelope are protected under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, prohibiting international transport of listed animals (dead, alive, or parts). Shooting these antelopes in Africa and bringing trophies into the U.S. would be illegal. Yet under the exemption, killing them in the U.S. was legal.
Lee Hall, Vice President of Legal Affairs for Friends of Animals, lauded the new rule, saying, “At last these antelopes are free from being handled and killed for kicks. This protects three communities of North African antelopes from being transplanted to or bred into exploitive captivity, and stalked because of their remarkably graceful horns.”
With the blanket exemption in place, a lucrative industry in hunting “popular exotics” and supplying feed, fencing, and taxidermy has continued to operate. FWS accepted arguments that hunting is good for antelope because it provides an incentive for maintaining their populations.
Hall continued, “The publication of this rule ends the preposterous legal fiction that canned hunting ranches protect and propagate endangered species when in reality they are pimping members of species just barely hanging onto life on Earth—in effect, exploiting the ‘endangered’ classification for profit.”
Advocates Strike Back
A court case brought by Friends of Animals and WildEarth Guardians in 2009 challenged the loophole and secured a court order finding that the exemption violated Section 10 of the ESA by letting canned hunting ranches “harm, harass, pursue, hunt, shoot, wound, kill, trap, capture, or collect” members of endangered species. District Judge Henry H. Kennedy, Jr. called blanket exemptions “anathema” to the ESA, and in June 2009 remanded the rule to the FWS for the appropriate change. Change has now come.
“This success is a step forward for all endangered species,” said Taylor Jones, Endangered Species Advocate for WildEarth Guardians. “The ESA is a powerful law, but it cannot work as it was meant to if exemptions are freely granted for any species hunters might want to hang on their wall.”
The pro-hunting Safari Club, represented by house attorney Anna Seidman, wants to set aside the new rule and give tourists the legal prerogative to pay $3,500 or more to kill the 2,000-plus captive antelopes still alive on U.S. ranches.
Friends of Animals’ Lee Hall counters: “While the Endangered Species Act does allow, for example, some movement of listed animals for science-related reasons or to enhance the propagation or survival of the animals—contingent on a public feedback process for each good-faith application—it is not meant to authorize sport-hunting.”
“Hunting these antelopes is no way to save them or treat them with dignity; nor is it a dignified interpretation of the Endangered Species Act,” Hall stated.
###
Friends of Animals, an animal advocacy organization founded in 1957, advocates for the rights of animals to live free, on their own terms:
WildEarth Guardians works to protect and restore wildlife, wild places and wild rivers in the American West:
STOP CANNED HUNTING!! - - Live Fearlessly, Compassionately and Honestly
CANNED HUNTING MAKES DREAMS COME TRUE
"The overseas hunter fired another shot. She slumped to the ground in a crumpled heap. Both times, the hunter shot from a vehicle. He then posed with the dead lioness and pulled at her mouth to show her teeth."
The Blah Blah Blah Hunting Lodge advertises that their hunting adventure:
".... allows the opportunity to hunt and harvest the Trophy Zebra you'll want to hang on your wall...this hunt will offer 100% opportunity for a Mature Zebra. Year round, we offer hunts for beautiful Grants Zebra. There are no seasonal restrictions on hunting the Zebra in Texas, which makes it a suitable trophy year round."
( I guess the new word for kill is "harvest" .... )
Canned hunting seems so obviously wrong that it feels almost silly making that point. Hunters I know would never go to a commercial lodge where animals had been stocked like fish in a pond and where the grounds are fenced. There's no real challenge. It's not 'real' hunting. It's disgraceful. The whole thing is a barbaric, inhumane way to make money and be entertained at the great expense of amazing wild creatures. "Harvesting" animals on canned hunts should not only be illegal it should be viewed as horrendously shameful.
OP CANNED HUNTING!! - - Live Fearlessly, Compassionately and Honestly
"The bullet slammed into the lioness and she spun into the air, falling against the electric fence behind which she was confined. Standing on the other side of the fence were her three young cubs - she had been separated from them an hour earlier.
"The overseas hunter fired another shot. She slumped to the ground in a crumpled heap. Both times, the hunter shot from a vehicle. He then posed with the dead lioness and pulled at her mouth to show her teeth."
collage by Betsy Seeton showing various hunters in the United States with their trophy kills from canned hunting lodges
This is how Gareth Patterson described a scene that some of you will recognise from The Cook Report TV documentary on canned hunting. (Source
captiveanimals.org) But you don't have to go to Africa to kill the animals of your dreams. You can do it right here in America. There are over 1000 canned hunting sites available for your killing pleasure in the U.S. All kinds of rare, exotic animals are fenced in on commercial hunting grounds that you can shoot just about any which way you choose -- for a price. Zebras cost somewhere around $4,500 to put a bullet through. Lodging costs are on top of the kill price. Killing a Transcaspian Urial Sheep will set you back upwards of around $17,000 while a Siberian Ibex is more than $19,000.
The Blah Blah Blah Hunting Lodge advertises that their hunting adventure:
".... allows the opportunity to hunt and harvest the Trophy Zebra you'll want to hang on your wall...this hunt will offer 100% opportunity for a Mature Zebra. Year round, we offer hunts for beautiful Grants Zebra. There are no seasonal restrictions on hunting the Zebra in Texas, which makes it a suitable trophy year round."
( I guess the new word for kill is "harvest" .... )
I grew up eating elk and venison my entire childhood courtesy of my father who was an avid big game hunter. My brothers and I, along with my mother, helped pack out the meat from the forest and my father gutted/cleaned and packaged the meat in our basement using a band saw. But one thing he would never do, and would never support, is canned hunting. He hunted to put food on our table. He loved the hunt. He really did. But he told me if he had money he would not have hunted. He did it to provide for his family. He would not have done it for the joy of killing.
The caption for this posting is what some or even most canned hunters feel. Trophy hunters often have their wish list -- a bucket list if you will -- of animals they want to kill during their lifetime. I cannot fathom this mindset.
Canned hunters must have a perverted sense of joy and twisted sense of accomplishment along with what I can only describe as scary egos. These exotic animals are transported from their natural habitat and some are farm raised to continue the species for future hunting. They are on grounds that have fences. They are not living a natural life and they die a quite unnatural death. I will never understand the soul of these people. How they stand by their trophy kill with those "look-at-me" grins thinking they are powerful or strong or whatever it is that they believe they are. The whole concept of canned hunting is beyond my comprehension.
The caption for this posting is what some or even most canned hunters feel. Trophy hunters often have their wish list -- a bucket list if you will -- of animals they want to kill during their lifetime. I cannot fathom this mindset.
Canned hunters must have a perverted sense of joy and twisted sense of accomplishment along with what I can only describe as scary egos. These exotic animals are transported from their natural habitat and some are farm raised to continue the species for future hunting. They are on grounds that have fences. They are not living a natural life and they die a quite unnatural death. I will never understand the soul of these people. How they stand by their trophy kill with those "look-at-me" grins thinking they are powerful or strong or whatever it is that they believe they are. The whole concept of canned hunting is beyond my comprehension.
Canned hunting seems so obviously wrong that it feels almost silly making that point. Hunters I know would never go to a commercial lodge where animals had been stocked like fish in a pond and where the grounds are fenced. There's no real challenge. It's not 'real' hunting. It's disgraceful. The whole thing is a barbaric, inhumane way to make money and be entertained at the great expense of amazing wild creatures. "Harvesting" animals on canned hunts should not only be illegal it should be viewed as horrendously shameful.
Canned Hunts
Canned Hunts
"Did you know there are over 500 ranches in Texas alone that allow exotic animals like our friends here at WildLife on Easy Street to be hunted down in a fenced or small enclosed area to be shot for a fee? It happens much like ordering off of a menu - maybe a wolf for \$250, a bear for $375 and a tiger for $2000. You see there are many animals that have been auctioned off and sold to "big game" ranches because they were bred for it or abandoned by owners who didn't understand the responsibilities of caring for an exotic animal. Many come to their certain demise on these ranches. The worse part is in some cases, they are so used to human contact, that they do not even know to run or be afraid. Not only is this cruel, but it also violates any hunters code of ethics, being the animals are enclosed. There is a bill that has been proposed that would end this, but has stalled for lack of action. Please join us in writing our congress people. Simply cut and paste the following letter to your own word processor. Modify it to add your own personal thoughts. Then locate your congressmen here and mail a copy to them. These animals are counting on you to speak for them!"
"Did you know there are over 500 ranches in Texas alone that allow exotic animals like our friends here at WildLife on Easy Street to be hunted down in a fenced or small enclosed area to be shot for a fee? It happens much like ordering off of a menu - maybe a wolf for \$250, a bear for $375 and a tiger for $2000. You see there are many animals that have been auctioned off and sold to "big game" ranches because they were bred for it or abandoned by owners who didn't understand the responsibilities of caring for an exotic animal. Many come to their certain demise on these ranches. The worse part is in some cases, they are so used to human contact, that they do not even know to run or be afraid. Not only is this cruel, but it also violates any hunters code of ethics, being the animals are enclosed. There is a bill that has been proposed that would end this, but has stalled for lack of action. Please join us in writing our congress people. Simply cut and paste the following letter to your own word processor. Modify it to add your own personal thoughts. Then locate your congressmen here and mail a copy to them. These animals are counting on you to speak for them!"
Stop Canned Hunting | causes.com
Stop Canned Hunting | causes.com
http://www.causes.com/causes/5605-stop-canned-hunting/about
http://www.causes.com/causes/5605-stop-canned-hunting/about
About Stop Canned Hunting
To Stop this heinous form of animal cruelty.
Canned hunting operations, also referred to as "shooting preserves" or "game ranches," are private trophy hunting facilities that offer their customers the opportunity to kill exotic and native animals that are trapped within enclosures.
1. Canned hunting must stop now.
2. Animals have rights too.
Canned hunting operations, also referred to as "shooting preserves" or "game ranches," are private trophy hunting facilities that offer their customers the opportunity to kill exotic and native animals that are trapped within enclosures.
1. Canned hunting must stop now.
2. Animals have rights too.
Animal Rights Africa
Animal Rights Africa
MYTH 1.The captive lion breeders call themselves conservationists. They profess to be preserving lions for posterity on the basis “if it pays it stays” and they say that affording protection to lions by placing it on CITES 1 could well mean the end of the African Lion. What’s more, they now want to do the same thing with leopard and cheetah.
MYTH 1.The captive lion breeders call themselves conservationists. They profess to be preserving lions for posterity on the basis “if it pays it stays” and they say that affording protection to lions by placing it on CITES 1 could well mean the end of the African Lion. What’s more, they now want to do the same thing with leopard and cheetah.
Canned Hunting|Big Cat Rescue
Canned Hunting|Big Cat Rescue
http://bigcatrescue.org/abuse-issues/issues/canned-hunting
Canned Hunting
The term “canned hunt” refers to the shooting of exotic animals on game farms or hunting ranches that are in the business of breeding or buying exotic animals so that “hunters” can pay to be guaranteed a kill. Tamed animals from zoos, backyard breeders and those who mistakenly got them as pets are their favorite targets because they are accustomed to being around people and won’t run when the client walks up to them to take a shot.
Wilder animals are baited with food into shooting range and the truly wild, such as bobcats, cougars and lions, are shot in their transport cages or in the back of the trailers in which they arrived.
These operations claim to only offer non-endangered exotic animals to would-be hunters, but provide a smokescreen to enable illegal activities such as hunting endangered animals.
One common source for big cats in canned hunts in S. Africa comes from the game farms where the owners tell the public that they are raising lions for reintroduction to the wild. They sell a sad story about how the cubs were orphaned or rejected by their mothers and tell you that for a fee you can help bottle feed them and thus do something fun and help insure that the cub gets a second chance to live free. What customers don’t know is that as soon as the cubs are too big to handle, they are turned out into fenced yards where hunters shoot them after paying a fee.
There is no legitimate facility that will allow you to have contact with big cats. If they are allowing such contact, you know immediately that you should just Say NO!
Download this excellent article on Canning Canned Hunts
http://bigcatrescue.org/abuse-issues/issues/canned-hunting
Canned Hunting
Killing Tamed Wild Animals in Fenced Areas for Sport
The term “canned hunt” refers to the shooting of exotic animals on game farms or hunting ranches that are in the business of breeding or buying exotic animals so that “hunters” can pay to be guaranteed a kill. Tamed animals from zoos, backyard breeders and those who mistakenly got them as pets are their favorite targets because they are accustomed to being around people and won’t run when the client walks up to them to take a shot.
Wilder animals are baited with food into shooting range and the truly wild, such as bobcats, cougars and lions, are shot in their transport cages or in the back of the trailers in which they arrived.
These operations claim to only offer non-endangered exotic animals to would-be hunters, but provide a smokescreen to enable illegal activities such as hunting endangered animals.
One common source for big cats in canned hunts in S. Africa comes from the game farms where the owners tell the public that they are raising lions for reintroduction to the wild. They sell a sad story about how the cubs were orphaned or rejected by their mothers and tell you that for a fee you can help bottle feed them and thus do something fun and help insure that the cub gets a second chance to live free. What customers don’t know is that as soon as the cubs are too big to handle, they are turned out into fenced yards where hunters shoot them after paying a fee.
There is no legitimate facility that will allow you to have contact with big cats. If they are allowing such contact, you know immediately that you should just Say NO!
Download this excellent article on Canning Canned Hunts
Captive Hunts Fact Sheet : The Humane Society of the United States
Captive Hunts Fact Sheet
http://www.humanesociety.org/issues/captive_hunts/facts/captive_hunt_fact_sheet.html
The Unfair Chase
What are captive hunts?
Captive hunting operations—also referred to as "shooting preserves," "canned hunts," or "game ranches"—are private trophy hunting facilities that offer their customers the opportunity to kill exotic and native animals trapped within enclosures. Some facilities have even allowed their clients to kill animals remotely via the Internet.Who are the victims?
The animals killed in captive hunts may come from private breeders, animal dealers, circuses or even zoos. These animals are frequently hand-raised and bottle-fed, so they have lost their natural fear of people. In many facilities, the animals expect to be fed at regular times by familiar people—a setup that guarantees a kill for trophy hunters.Endangered species are even available at captive hunts. Several species of threatened and endangered animals are regularly advertised at captive hunting ranches. For example, the International Union for the Conservations of Nature and Natural Resources lists the scimitar-horned oryx and Pere David's deer as extinct in the wild; the Dama gazelle and the addax as critically endangered; the Arabian oryx and markhor as endangered; the blackbuck and bongo as near threatened; and the Nubian ibex, aoudad, barasingha, mouflon, yak, and European bison as vulnerable.
Although the Endangered Species Act (ESA) protects animals listed as endangered or threatened, captive hunt enthusiasts exploit loopholes in federal law that allow captive-bred wildlife to be killed if permitted by state law. This creates a market for endangered species’ trophies, and can encourage illegal poaching of the animals in their native habitat. Issuing permits to shoot endangered species on these ranches contradicts the basic purposes of the ESA, which is to conserve endangered and threatened wildlife – not kill them.
Semi-tame animals make easy targets, so captive hunt operators can offer their customers a guarantee of "no kill, no pay." The animals are guaranteed something as well—that there will be no escape.
How many captive hunts are there?
The HSUS estimates that there are more than a thousand captive hunting operations across the country. Approximately five hundred of these operations are in Texas alone.What's the risk of spreading disease?
Due to the high population densities on captive hunts, risk of disease transmission increases, posing a threat to animals inside and outside the fences. And it is doubtful that those involved in the captive hunting business provide acceptable veterinary care for their animals.Diseases such as tuberculosis and brucellosis—which can also infect farm animals and other wildlife—have been diagnosed in captive wildlife. Michigan battled an outbreak of tuberculosis among deer a few years ago due to baiting, which encourages animals to congregate in small areas.
Chronic wasting disease, a fatal disease that infects deer, elk, and moose, is another serious concern. CWD has been reported in 19 states; in 11 of these states CWD was present in captive wildlife populations. In 2011, new cases of CWD have been reported in South Dakota, Illinois, West Virginia, Minnesota, Maryland, Nebraska, and Kansas.
Although there must legally be fencing around captive hunts, animals often can and sometimes do escape from these facilities. Since 2007, there have been 48 instances of elk escaping from captive facilities in Iowa alone. In Wisconsin, captive facilities reported 437 escapes from 2004 to 2007. The interstate transport of animals for breeding purposes increases the possibility of spreading these diseases even further.
Once present, CWD becomes increasingly difficult to control, and attempts to halt the disease can cost taxpayers millions of dollars. Through escaped animals, fence-line transmission, or environmental contamination, game farms and captive hunting ranches are putting our wild herds at grave risk.
Are captive hunts big business?
Captive hunting is a lucrative and expanding industry. It is estimated that more than 1,000 captive mammal hunting operations are operating in at least two dozen states. Several factors feed into that expansion: The overbreeding of captive exotic animals, the desire by some hunters with plenty of cash for a quick and easy kill, and the incentive to bag exotic mammals provided by Safari Club International's "Introduced Trophy Game Animals of North America" trophy hunting achievement award.Do all hunters support captive hunting?
No. As hunter and noted author Ted Kerasote puts it, "'Canned hunting' is a misnomer. More accurately defined as 'shooting animals in small enclosures,' the activity has nothing to do with the motives that inform authentic hunting: procuring healthy, organic food; participating in the timeless cycles of birth, death, and nurturing; honoring the lives that support us; and reconnecting with wildness. No matter where one stands on hunting—vehemently opposed to it or seeing it as yet another way to live sustainably on Earth—one ought to decry shooting animals behind fences.""Fair chase"—a concept central to the philosophy of many in the hunting community—doesn't exist in captive hunts. The self-described ethical hunting community (including groups like Boone & Crockett, Pope & Young, and the Izaak Walton League) is becoming increasingly vocal in its opposition to canned hunting.
Are captive hunts legal?
As reviled as captive hunting is by non-hunters and hunters alike, no federal law bans the practice, and only about half of the states have policies that ban or restrict canned hunts. The regulations implementing the federal Animal Welfare Act do not apply to game preserves, hunting preserves, and captive hunts. Although the Endangered Species Act protects animals listed as endangered or threatened, the Fish and Wildlife Service does not prohibit private ownership of these animals and even allows captive hunting of endangered species. ptive Hunts Fact Sheet : The Humane Society of the United StatesScandalous Canned Hunting Statistics Reveal That Minister Van Schalkwyk Is Guilty Of Doublespeak | Network News
Scandalous Canned Hunting Statistics Reveal That Minister Van Schalkwyk Is Guilty Of Doublespeak | Network News
Scandalous Canned Hunting Statistics Reveal That Minister Van Schalkwyk Is Guilty Of Doublespeak
Scandalous Canned Hunting Statistics Reveal That Minister Van Schalkwyk Is Guilty Of Doublespeak
| Network News |
| Wednesday, 17 September 2008 12:02 |
| A recent written reply by the Director-General of Environmental Affairs and Tourism (DEAT) to a question put in Parliament by the Democratic Alliance has once again sounded the alarm on the canned hunting industry in South Africa. With all the duplicity, fanfare and spin put out by Martinus Van Schalkwyk over the past few years, the general public, both local and international, cannot be criticised for thinking that canned hunting in South African is a thing of the past. But nothing can be further from the truth. Far from being controlled, the canned hunting industry, with active support from the government, is growing exponentially. And it is not only confined to the hunting of large predators - elephants, rhinos, buffaloes and antelope species are also hunted and killed in this way. The information released by DEAT confirms this. For example, 702 lions were killed for trophies in 2007. This means that since 2005 the number of lions killed by the canned predator industry has doubled, with most of the lions coming from the North West province (637), which, astonishingly, has eighty lion farms! Over the past year provincial and national DEAT spokespersons have been at pains to promise lion breeders that the industry is not geared for demise. As recently as 9 July 2008 the Deputy Minister, Rejoice Mabudafhasi, unequivocally assured them that “government does appreciate the existence of the industry and that there is no way that the regulations will eventually lead to the closure of the industry as the industry is an accepted part of the tourism experience package that South Africa markets.” (source) In contrast, attempts by ARA and others to persuade DEAT to support a plan that would address the ethical and welfare concerns of the predators still caught up in the industry has fallen on deaf ears. Animal Rights Africa (ARA) spokesperson Michele Pickover says that “this is more evidence that Van Schalkwyk continues to pander to the profit-driven bloodlust of the hunters and breeders". ARA wants to warn local and international tourists that it looks as if the South African government is trying to play them as fools. After the release of the Cook Report in 1997, which exposed canned lion practices in South Africa, there was a huge public outcry about canned hunting and its damaging ethical, ecological and biological implications. Public opinion favours an outright ban of this industry. ARA believes that by 2005 Minister Van Schalkwyk could no longer ignore the weight of public opinion and the real threat this industry poses to the South African tourism industry. But instead of banning canned hunting, it seems Van Schalkwyk and his colleagues are playing a double game. On the one hand, making public announcements that the government was going to “put an end, once and for all, to the reprehensible practice of canned hunting" (source) and that after 1 June 2007 there would be no more canned hunting of large animals in South Africa, while on the other hand providing the predator breeding industry with loopholes that will allow this reprehensible industry to continue and expand. Loophole One: The NEMBA Threatened or Protected Species (TOPS) Regulations is flawed and inadequate legislation that does not ban canned predator hunting but merely attempts to regulate it. Loophole Two: Inexplicably postponing the implementation of TOPS from 1st June 2007 to February 2008 thereby giving the South African Predator Breeders Association the opportunity to challenge TOPS before it came into force. Loophole Three: Excluding lions from the definition for listed large predators of the TOPS legislation promulgated in February 2008, supposedly while the South African Predator Breeders Association court case against the Minister (which is likely to take years) is pending. ARA is extremely concerned about the safety of workers in the dangerous sustainable use industries of lion breeding and elephant back safaris. “We also find it unethical that when workers are killed by the predators being breed in these farms, the farmers merely sell off some lions as trophies to “compensate” the families of the deceased. Says Pickover: “Van Schalkwyk has often been quoted as saying that South Africa has a long-standing reputation as a global leader on conservation issues, but if this kind of unbending and staunch support for rampant sustainable use is what leadership and conservation is all about then the fate of wildlife, biodiversity and environmental management in South Africa is in VERY serious trouble.” Contact persons for ARA: Steve Smit +27 (0) 82 659 4711 Michele Pickover +27 (0) 82 253 2124 ARA email - info@animalrightsafrica.org ARA website – www.animalrightsafrica.org |
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