[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 136 (Monday, September 26, 1994)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: September 26, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                CANNED HUNTS--LIKE SHOOTING A PUPPY DOG

                                 ______


                            HON. DON EDWARDS

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                       Monday, September 26, 1994

  Mr. EDWARDS of California. Mr. Speaker, I encourage you to read the 
editorial below from the Tampa Tribune, September 5, 1994, which 
suggests that canned hunts are the antithesis of true hunting.
  Canned hunts must be stopped. H.R. 4997, the Captive Exotic Animal 
Protection Act of 1994 has been introduced to do just that. H.R. 4997 
would prohibit the killing or injuring of exotic animals--animals not 
indigenous to the United States--held in captivity, for entertainment 
or trophy collection.
  The editorial follows.

                  Sealing the Lid on ``Canned'' Hunts

       ``Canned'' hunts are the antithesis of true hunting and no 
     responsible sportsman would have anything to do with them. 
     These bloody ventures drew attention recently when it was 
     discovered that surplus animals from Lowry Park Zoo and Busch 
     Gardens may have been sold inadvertently to dealers who 
     provide animals for such activities.
       In canned hunts, wealthy louts pay a fee to kill exotic 
     animals kept in fenced areas. Often the animals are hand-fed 
     so they lose their fear of people. All the skill, toil and 
     expertise that makes hunting a challenge is absent. So are 
     hunting ethics, which demand that hunters observe the rules 
     of ``fair chase.'' In canned hunts, there is only killing.
       Lowry Park Zoo officials were furious when they discovered 
     a dealer who bought three Persian gazelles and an Arabian 
     oryx apparently violated the park's contract, which specified 
     that the animals could not be used for hunting, research or 
     any inhumane purpose. Busch Gardens officials also say they 
     were duped.
       Lowry Park officials quickly adopted more stringent 
     safeguards. Under the new policy, before dealers can purchase 
     an animal from the zoo, they must provide references from the 
     American Zoo and Aquarium Association and sign a document 
     that requires them to notify the zoo when the animal dies. 
     Dealers also must promise to allow Lowry Park officials to 
     approve any future sale of the animal or the animal will be 
     returned to the zoo at the owner's expense.
       This prudent step should make it even more difficult for 
     unscrupulous dealers to buy zoo animals for canned hunts.
       But what is also needed is federal legislation that would 
     ban such hunts. A proposal exists. The ``Captive Exotic 
     Animal Protection Act'' is not an anti-hunting measure. It 
     would not affect game preserves that feature wild native game 
     animals in natural habitat or birdhunting preserves, where 
     game birds are released into the wild and then hunted.
       It would not even prohibit the hunting of exotic mammals on 
     preserves--if they were genuinely wild. The legislation would 
     prohibit only the hunting of a creature that had been held in 
     captivity either for a year or ``the greater part of the 
     animal's life.''
       In other words, no hunting a docile, captive animal that 
     will offer the shooter about as much challenge as a puppy 
     dog.
       Hunting is a legitimate endeavor and hunters are the 
     backbone of the conservation movement, working--and paying--
     to protect wildlife and wilderness. But taking an animal out 
     of the zoo, putting it in a fenced area and then shooting it 
     is not hunting. It's commercial cruelty and should be 
     outlawed. Hunters, whose good name is being sullied, should 
     lead the campaign against this immoral practice.

                          ____________________