Originally published May 3 2005
California votes to ban hunting through the internet
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
California state senators voted 25-6 to prohibit online hunting websites, with the threat of a $1,000 fine and six months of jail time as a deterrent to anyone who kills animals with a gun fired over the internet. The state has also banned the importation of any animal killed through such a service. Currently, there is only one website that offers hunters the chance to hunt game such as antelope, wild hogs, or sheep through the internet and California is keen to stop any imitators. This website, Live-shot.com, actually connects a rifle to a computer and allows paying users to fire the rifle at living animals.
California state senators approved a bill on Thursday that would ban hunters from killing animals over the Internet.
Hunters can currently stalk prey online at Live-shot.com, a Web site linking firearms and cameras so customers can point, click and shoot antelope, sheep and wild hogs on a Texas ranch from thousands of miles away.
Live-shot.com is the only Web site of its kind, and California lawmakers voted 25-6 to deter imitators.
"It's an over-the-top, pay-per-view video game using live animals for target practice that ought to be banned from coast-to-coast," said Sen.
"Pay-per-view hunting doesn't meet any definition of 'sporting' that I've ever heard because there's nothing 'sporting' about sitting at your computer in your pajamas, using your mouse to shoot at hogs or antelope or any other animal that's halfway across the country," Bowen said.
Her bill bars remote hunting in California and would ban anyone from operating a hunting Web site in the state.
The bill would also ban the import of animals into California killed over a remote hunting Web site, and violators would face up to six months in jail and fines of up to $1,000.
The operator of Live-shot.com was not immediately available for comment, but customer Dale Hagberg of Ligonier, Ind., who is paralyzed from the neck down, defended the Web site and criticized California lawmakers.
It's designed to help people like me, not just lazy hunters," said Hagberg, who plans to use the Web site again after an initial and unsuccessful hunt.
Fourteen other states are discussing similar bans, and a federal bill would outlaw Internet-based hunting across the United States.
California lawmakers in recent years have taken up a number of animal-friendly bills, including legislation aimed at stopping foie gras production, sharply limiting the practice of cropping dogs' ears, and legalizing ferret ownership.
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