Last week, the Georgia Senate defeated a bill that would open more inhumane and unsporting captive hunting ranches in Georgia. Now proponents of captive hunts are likely to amend other bills moving through the legislature to advance their captive hunt agenda. Animals in these captive hunting operations, or "canned hunts," have no chance of escape and the customers of these facilities are guaranteed a kill. The captive animals also threaten native wildlife populations with deadly diseases.
Please sign this petition so that we can let the senate know we do not want this bill to be passed in the future.
Please make a brief, polite call to your state senator, and urge opposition to Senate Bill 188, and any bill amended to expand canned hunts. And don't forget to send a follow up message. Thank you for helping animals in Georgia.
UPDATE:
It appears, wonderfully , that Senate Bill 188 was voted down not so much because it would allow hunting exotics in enclosures, but rather vague language that some believe would have allowed hunting of endangered species. Supporters of the bill vow to reintroduce a cleaner version in the future. So sign this petition to reinforce animal rights.
According to reports, the bill would have allowed for the hunting of "alternative livestock." The original bill called for the hunting of axis, sika and red deer; reindeer and caribou, and myriad hybrids of these species. It also called for hunting of many exotics, including waterbuck antelope, horned oryx, Barbary sheep and black belly sheep.
The Senate defeated the bill on a vote of 30-20.
According to a report by the Georgia DNR, a large majority of state residents think it should be illegal to hunt non-native deer in a fenced enclosure, and they oppose it, even if it would generate economic activity for rural Georgia.
