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Friday, January 27, 2012

Ind. Law - More on: "Hunting preserves: Legislative efforts in the past focused on grandfathering the existing preserves only, but this bill goes further to open the industry to new operators"

Updating this ILB entry from Jan. 25th, quoting Niki Kelly's story in the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette, today the same paper has a long editorial that begins:

Why are some state legislators trying to legalize canned hunting in Indiana when most states are working hard to eliminate the repulsive practice?

“It’s all about greed,” said Gene Hopkins, president of the Indiana Sportsmen’s Roundtable.

House Bill 1265, which passed out of the Natural Resources Committee on Tuesday, would make it legal to hunt farm-raised cervidea – deer and elk – confined within a fence. Unlike previous proposals, the bill goes far beyond grandfathering in the four captive hunting facilities already operating in Indiana; it would encourage new operators to open more canned hunting operations in the state.

“I think it’s sad that we’ve got to visit this issue over and over when we’ve got so many more important things we should be working on,” Hopkins said. “This is really, truly a dangerous bill.”

More from the editorial:
Owners of the confined hunting operations likely took the opportunity to revisit the issue this year because of the significant number of new legislators who are unfamiliar with the issue’s history or are ignorant of the research and study that show that legalizing captive hunting is a bad idea.

“I studied it for over a year,” said Hopkins, who served on the Citizens Advisory Council for Captive Cervidaes, which was formed by the DNR after a high-fence operator filed a lawsuit against the state in 2005. “I’m an IT guy. I’m a data guy. I’m not an emotional guy. And the data is real clear on this. This is not good.”

Hunting deer in confined areas violates the hunting ethic of fair chase.

“What’s right about shooting a deer or elk behind a 200-acre fence?” Hopkins asked. “These are not wild animals. They are raised on farms, bottle-fed. They don’t have any idea how to hide from hunters. I’m a hunter. I’ve been a hunter all my life and I’ve fought for the rights of hunters for 30 years. This is not hunting.” * * *

“Whether you hunt or not, I don’t care what your beliefs are, this is wrong,” Hopkins said. “People need to get ahold of their legislators and tell them to vote no on this. No compromises, no amendments, just no.”

The bill will be eligible for 2nd reading Monday.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on January 27, 2012 10:09 AM
Posted to Indiana Law