‘Bred simply to be shot’: Inside America’s ‘exotic’ hunting industry
The animals are fenced-in, hand-reared, hand-fed, and baited so food is out when hunters come. Hunters are then driven-up to the area where animal is eating and they're shot there.
INES NOVACIC: ‘Most people associate the multi-billion-dollar exotic animal industry in the U.S. with the exotic pet trade; but the breeding and hunting of big-game exotics, mostly from the African continent, are a large part of this financially lucrative operation. It’s referred to by industry participants and experts as “conservation through commerce”… The Exotics Wildlife Association website even boasts a proposal to African governments to bring specimens of the critically endangered rhino to Texas; it claims that the group is “working out the details of the arrangement”…
5 Star Outfitters is one of the many hundreds of hunting ranches in Texas that stock their grounds with exotic animals like the wildebeest. There’s no official count, but some estimates place the number of such ranches in the thousands. According to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, which has oversight over hunts in the state, an exotic animal is defined as any animal that is not indigenous to Texas. Texas is the epicenter of the exotic animal industry in the U.S. Howell, who owns two ranches and leases an additional three, says he currently has 10 different species of exotics, about 100 animals in total, between 5 Star and one other ranch. Here, they roam the 35,000 acres enclosed by a fence.
“I couldn’t even tell you how many people raise exotics in Texas — hundreds, tons,” Howell told CBS News. He explained that he couldn’t “name names” or give specifics about ranches and breeders, as there is no official overview of the industry. It’s almost entirely privately-run, with some permitting required by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, as well as the Fish and Wildlife Service and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The USDA mandates all Texas breeders and dealer of exotics, as well as auctioneers, have operating licenses…
“The domestic wildlife trade is the dirty underbelly of trophy hunting industry,” said Kitty Block, CEO of the Humane Society of the United States, an animal welfare group that opposes the practice. Block described the hunting of exotics in the U.S. as canned hunts, motivated by the desire to obtain a so-called trophy. “Animals are fenced-in, hand-reared, hand-fed, and they’re baited so food is out when hunters come,” Block told CBS News. “Hunters are then driven up to the area where animal is eating and they’re shot there”… “They’re not hunting to eat, they’re hunting these animals for trophies,” said Block, of the Humane Society. “All the animals in the exotics are trade are bred simply to be shot”.’ SOURCE…
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