Bison taken for joy of killing
Overpopulation, starvation, and public safety are excuses routinely used by the hunting cartel to support sport hunting. Without hunting, they say, wildlife would face terrible consequences.
This is not the case for the customers of the Northland Bison Ranch, who have nothing better to do than shoot tame, captive animals - all for the joy of killing.
A recent article described a bison-killing mission enjoyed by animal killers from Iceland and how they congratulated themselves by passing out cigars when they managed to violently slaughter passive bison that were confined to an enclosure (Hunting museum owner takes trophy at local bison ranch, 1/4).
This kind of hunting is as challenging and unethical as shooting animals in a zoo.
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Sadly, this insidious form of "canned hunting" is spreading like a cancer throughout the country despite being condemned by hunters and national hunting organizations.
The Orion Institute decries canned hunting as being immoral and the Boone and Crockett club publicly condemns "the pursuit and killing of any big game animal kept in or released from captivity to be killed in an artificial or bogus `hunting' situation."
In his book, "Beyond Fair Chase," hunter Jim Posewitz, a 32-year veteran of the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks, states: "There are some activities that are clearly unfair as well as unethical. At the top of the list is shooting captive or domesticated big game animals in commercial killing areas."
Today, shooting captive, passive animals should be prosecuted under the animal cruelty statutes. Tomorrow, canned hunting ranches that profit from this senseless violence should be banned.
Please contact your state representatives and senator in St. Paul and urge them to draft and pass legislation banning these violent playgrounds forever.
Contact information can be found at www.leg.state.mn.us . For information on how you can stop the spread of canned hunting, please visit www.cashwildwatch.org .
Joe Miele,
Vice President,
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Committee to Abolish
Sport Hunting
