Close Up Report: Canned Hunts

ecurity meqsures at
canned hunts. and in
the animal-supply pipe-
hunters. The bow-hunter chuckled at the ease with which his
prey was being brought to him
the rqm v,as still full of life,
even as his blood drained ouL
The ram ran
to
the fence,
line lo canned-hunt operati(,ns,
oJien rival those of research
lnbs. Outsiders are not welcome. It was thus with some
and remarked, "I don't even
consider this hu ting." That
turning to the qnimals and aim-
:fear that qnother HSUS investi-
began to shake but still stood,
ing his bow.
The .first arrow Jlew and
landed in a ram's rear, causing
him to jump and brieJly run. I
four arrows sticking out of him
gator and
I
kept
ow appoint-
ment toview a ca ned hunt in
notthetn state.
We met our
pqrty at
s
the
hunting lodge. lnside, a group
of hunters dressed in camouflage were wqtching instructio nal bow- hunting videotape s.
Periodically, they stared out the
window qt an enclosure containing white-tailed deer, whct
stared right back at them.
Deer were not on the menu
today. The two hunters we
would accompany were out for
Corsicqn ram. One would use a
bow, the other a riJle.
After leaving the hunting
Iodge, the guide tooh us across
the street and through a locked
gate. We walked through
small wood qlld swamp to
a
the
hunting fields, which were enclosed pastures. An eight-foot
wire fence kept the animals
from the public road bordering
the fields. A herd of grazing
Corsican rams stood about.fifty
yards away from us, too far for
the hunlers we
accompaniecl.
The guide tolcl the hu ters to
set up. Like
a
shepherd, he
walked calmly behind the rams
and Dushed lhem tow.lrd thc
didn't stop him, howevet
fom
figured this wus a bad shot;
I
had always heard that experienced bow-hunters aimed for a
quick kill. I soon deduced that
the hLlnteri priorily wqs not a
quick kill; it was an
intact upper body
stopped, and gqzed tht'7ugh the
wire to the freedom that beckoned
from the other side. He
qrK)ws.
there, waitingfor the quivei g
to fall. He refused to go
stand. As I walked qround him,
he turned his head and looked
animal
g the pq.rt of
the animal he
agi
would hang on his
wall.
He let two more
arrows Jly. One
went i to the mmi
back, the other
through a rear leg.
watched as the
animal hopped awqy, the qrrow in
his leg scraping
Two
more arrows Jlew. A lone Watusi bull stands in his pen at
They momentaily a canned-hunting faciliBr. Animals purdown, chased to be the victims ol canned
si ce they were hunts may be shot in their pens or r€hind-end .chot< leased irrto lararer ancl6surac,
but
mal would go down and end his
mise\. The poor creqture bare-
Jbll. He thrashed about on the
groulld and repeqtedly tried to
five
qiming
v'as to uvoid dam-
knockd him
range, would do it. I watched
as he Jired a sLxth arrow into
the ram, and I pruyed the a i-
minutes we stood
For
terion in
the ground.
the fence. The hunter decided
thql one uore shot, at close
(one had fallen out). Laughing,
ly reacted as the sixth qrnw
the hunter asked him to fall pierced his reqr gut. He stood
oter on his right side, not his his ground, Iooking through the
left, so he wouldnl break the fence and shaking. Finally he
and head for hi^s
trophy. The hunter's qpparent cri-
I
down btu kept gazing through
into my eyes.
There was nothing I could
do to help him. The hunt was
legal, and I was an iwited, Lotarmed guest on privctte property, surrounded by hunters with
rifles and bows.
I
told myself
that the information
I
was ob-
taining would help countless
other qfiimals in
predicaments, but
I
similar
couldn't
avoid the gaze of the ram,
l4/hen I close my eyes, I see it
still.
The ram wouldn't die.
SLr
arrows had pierced his hide
and leg; still, he struggled to
stand. The guide was hungry
for lunch, waiting back at the
lodge, and usked the bow-
hunter to finish the job. Borrowing the other hunter's ri/le,
the bow-hunter took aim and
shot the ram in hk side.from a
distance of four feet. The rqm
.^hti'l'.,4 t'^ t'l,.-.t'
THE ZOO
CONNECTION
ll
SUS investisations have
across
the nation have sold animals
Erevealed thaizoos
they consider surplus either
directly to canned-hunting
facilities or to dealers who
sell animals to auctions patronized by camed-hunt organizers. Some zoos (including the National Zoo in
Washington, DC., and the
San Diego Zoo) deny knowledge of the fate of their dis-
the grcund, but he was losing
blood fast. Five minutes later,
as the shooter and guide were
so they can easily be comered
unable
to
escape. These ani
of them hand-
mals many
in
pulling the enws from the ram
and examining them for damage, we heard that.finaL long
exhalation, as his lungs shut
reared
down. The ram wqs deqd. The
hunters and the guide laughed,
posed for photos, a d shook
mans and colnmonly trot unsuspectingly in ftont of the
huntel expecting food. The in-
supply olanimals from zoos to
canned-hunt operations. The
US. Department of Agriculture
stinct to flee, their greatest natu-
guide told the
nl defense, has been replaced by
trust kust that is rewarded
disclainrs responsibiliry and the
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service,
while it may become concerned
hands. "Nice shooting," the
hunter
,
ranches (see sidebal "The Zoo
Connection") have grown accustomed to the presence of hu-
with
a cruel and brutal death.
Appallingly, no federal laws
restrict canrred hunts or the
PREPACKAGED
SLAUGHTER
lF
I
zoos and on game
Hunters in a canned hunt
stalk a Corsican ram in a
fenced enclosur€ and bring
him down with ariows and
bullets. The rirm was shot
morc than six times-
if a hunt involves an endan-
gered species, has actually is-
sued
a permit
allowing
a
he ooor ram who died that
Ory *ur only one of thou-
sands
of
and at marry zoos, for
every baby bom, an
adult animal must go.
Zoos also make money ftom the sale of
animals who suffer
gruesome deaths in similar scenados across the counfy. Over
the last decade, canned hunting
animals money that
has crept across the country;
once limited to Texas, carured
hunting can now be found in
is too often literally
blood money.
Zoos, and the
American Zoo and
Aquarium Associaldon (AZA), must trnplement and adhere to
strict breeding restrictions, including lifelong plans for the humane maintenance of
all offspring, or they
must not breed at all.
The supply ofzoo animals to canned-hunting facilities could
most states, and the HSUS investigation indicates there may
be as many as several thousand
camed-hunting facilities in the
United States. From Hawaii to
Montana, ftom Pemsylvania to
Virginia, hunters may lay down
their money, step into an enclo-
sure, and
kill, with
virtually
any b/pe ofweapon, almost any
kind of animal: a boar, bear, ze-
bra, buffalo, antelope even
a
rhinoceros.
Canned hunting is nothing
more than prepackaged slaughter. The animals used in carured
hunts are confined by fences,
posed-of animals. Other
zoos, such as the San Antonio Zoo, sell their animals
openly. Even petting zoos
have become part ofthe lucrative market created by
canned huntingt the Catskill
Game Farm in New York, a
petting zoo that has purchased animals from the San
Diego Zoo for decades, has
sold animals dircctly to
canned-hunt operations in
Pennsylvania and Gxas.
Baby animals are popular,
so zoos keep breeding their
animals. But space is limited
Black bears look for handouts frcm visitors to the Catskill
Game Fann, a petting zoo in l{ew York, which has sold animals directly to canned-hunting operations.
end tomorrow if zoos
would shoulder their respon-
sibility to al1 ofthe animals
under their
care.
I
canned-hunt operator to make
certain species of endargered
deer a featue in his hunts! Nor
are most states any better. Wisconsin and California are the
only two that have laws goveming canned hunts; the rest tum a
blind eye to the canned cruelty
within their borders.
THE HSUS AT WORK
f his lack of regulation
I
word about these nightmarish
€vents. We are working on
state and federal levels to develop legislation to stop
canned hunting. And we are
pressuring the zoo community
to acknowledge its responsibility lor the animals it throws
aside. This summer we invited
zoo directors to meet with us
in hopes of beginning a dialogue that would benefit ani-
w*Nd$bo
. Ask your local zoo to adopt a policy of lifetime commitment
to all ofthe animals in its custody, whether purchased or bred
by the zoo. Tell your zoo that you will not donate money or
visit until it has such a policy. If your zoo refuses, contact
your local media; tell them to contact The HSUS for more information on canned hunting.
of widespread aware-
mals; the response was chill-
ness-is one reason The HSUS
is working so hard to expose
ingly negative. We must keep
. Call or write your senators and representative in Congress.
the pressure on, however, and
that is one way you can help.
Ask them to support leg-
and
camed hunting. During our
three-year invcstigation we
have amassed shocking evidence of the hidden horrors of
canned hunts and the role zoos
across the country play in providing animals to become the
hunted. NBC's Now television
program used HSUS footage
and information in a segment
it prepared on canned hunts
that will help to spread the
islation that would end
Tell your local zoo that you
canned hunts. The Capi-
won't be donating money to it
or visiting unless it recognizes
its lifetime responsibility for
all the animals in its custody.
tol switchboard number
is (202) 224-3121. Ad-
Canned hunts must be
bamed! A society that consid-
ate, Washington,
dress letters to The Hon-
orable
U.S. SenDC
20510 (senators); The
ers the hunting of penned ani-
Honorable
_,
U.S.
House of Representatives, Washington, DC
20515 (representative).
mals a legitimate commercial
activity cannot call itself civi-
lized.
_,
r
If
you do not know the
names of your senators
and representative, con-
tact your local chapter
ofthe League of Women
Voters or your city hall for
the information.
. Be alert to the possibility
that there are canned-hunt
operations in your area. The
HSUS investigation has located canned-hunt operations
the continental
United States and in Hawaii.
throughout
For help or for more information, contact The HSUS.
. Finally, assist The HSUS as
it continues its investigation
into and fight against canned
hunting, and in its efforts to
ptolect a.ll animals from unnecessary pain and suffering,
Please send your tax-deGrisly trophies adorn the walls of a canned-huniing facilityb lodge. Outside, in fenced fields, a Dama gazelle
awaits his fate. Will he, ioo, become a trophta
eHStr
ductible contribution
in
the
enclosed postage-paid envelope today. Don't delay! The animals urgently need help. I
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