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Tuesday, January 17, 2006
Ind. Gov't. - Canned hunts win new allies: Bill would overturn DNR director’s ban
"Canned hunts win new allies: Bill would overturn DNR director’s ban" is the headline to a story by outdoors editor Phil Bloom in today's Fort Wayne Journal Gazette. Some quotes:
High-fenced deer hunting has found some legislative allies who want to keep the operations open in Indiana despite efforts by the Department of Natural Resources to shut them down.“I think we need to leave the ones we have here and allow them to operate,” said Rep. William Ruppel, R-North Manchester, one of four co-authors of a bill that would legalize the practice of killing animals – including white-tail deer and elk – behind tall fences. “I don’t think we should force them out of business.”
The proposal comes five months after DNR director Kyle Hupfer announced a ban on high-fenced operations and said he would not support legislative efforts to overturn his decision.
House Bill 1349 is scheduled for a hearing with the Natural Resources Committee at 10 a.m. Wednesday. It would rename shooting preserves “animal hunting preserves” and allow “the propagation of hunting of game birds and privately owned deer and elk” at such facilities. It would set the minimum size at 80 acres and reduce from five miles to one mile the distance a facility must be from a state-owned game refuge or state public hunting ground.
Ruppel said there are 19 operations that would be affected by the proposal, including one in his legislative district. He said the sites were allowed to launch their businesses under previous administrations and shouldn’t be forced to close because of a change in administrations. “What I was upset with, and the reason I’m on this bill is … it doesn’t send good messages to businesses,” Ruppel said. * * *
Several Indiana conservation and hunting organizations are opposed to high-fenced deer operations and called it “canned hunting.” The groups have formed the Fair Chase Hunting Alliance, which is led by the Indiana Wildlife Federation, Indiana Bow Hunters Association, Indiana Deer Hunters Association, Indiana division of the Izaak Walton League of American, Pheasants Forever, Indiana Sportsman’s Roundtable and the Indiana chapter of The Wildlife Society.
“From our standpoint, this issue has been decided,” said John Goss, executive director of the Indiana Wildlife Federation. “The DNR is in the middle of the rule-making process to make some permanent rules on hunting behind fences, and we support that process and that rule. We do not believe the legislature should be taking action at this time.”
The alliance objects to high-fenced operations because they privatize wildlife for personal profit, violate hunting’s “fair chase” standards, and add to the risk of spreading chronic wasting disease. CWD is an always fatal brain disease that affects deer and elk. It has been found in captive or free-ranging wild deer in 14 states and two Canadian provinces.
“The experience in Wisconsin is frightening,” Goss said. “They are spending more than half of the DNR’s fish and wildlife budget on trying to eradicate infected deer.”
Posted by Marcia Oddi on January 17, 2006 08:32 AM
Posted to Environment | Indiana Government | Indiana Law