Exotic Big Game Hunting In The US
American big game hunters can legally hunt and take animals such as zebras, giraffes and rare African antelope, without ever leaving the United States.
Dozens of ranches in Texas and Florida offer hunting exotic animals, it is no secret and it is convenient
Ranch owners buy these animals from zoos or circuses, then breed them for stalking and taking by big game hunters.
Hunters have different reasons for visiting these ranches, some for trophies, others for delicious meat.
Hunting associations say these ranches help to conserve endangered animals that would otherwise become extinct, the ranchers breed them carefully.
Animal rights advocates challenge this on the basis that the animals are bred to be killed, and see hunters as cruel.
Hunting exotic animals on ranches in Texas and Florida is legal, according to both state and federal law.
If a species is protected by the Endangered Species Act, it falls under the mantle of the US Fish and Wildlife Service.
It is legal to hunt lions, Grant’s zebras, giraffes and a large number of other exotic animals on ranches in the United States. Furthermore, the US Fish and Wildlife Service has given some ranches permission to breed and hold captive exotic animals that are registered in the Act. So on some ranches hunters can legally hunt dama gazelles, scimitar-horned oryxes, Arabian oryxes, red lechwes, barasinghas and addax antelopes, even though they are all endangered.
If an animal is not included on the Endangered Species list, states determine whether or not they can be hunted.
The state of Texas only lists animals as endangered or threatened if they are native to Texas, according to the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department.
Florida allows exotic hunting, but requires a Game Farm License for captive rearing of both native and nonnative game birds and game mammals.
The game ranchers follow the game rules, and do not do anything unethical or illegal. And most of the exotic animals are born on the ranches, bred from animals that were bought from zoos.
Hunting is all about the experience, even when you don’t actually shoot an animal, just like climbing a mountain, even if you do not reach the top. And hunting helps keep some threatened species around for future generations.
The only place that some of those species are thriving are these ranches and they are thriving because of hunting. If it were not for exotic game ranches, they might be completely gone.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals disagree.
Stay tuned…
HeffX-LTN
Paul Ebeling
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