Proposed Bill Would Help Crack Down on Captive Hunts

Go Daddy’s Bob Parsons isn’t the only CEO who likes to blow off steam by blowing away wildlife.

Photos published last month by Robert Hirschfeld on Smile Politely show Jimmy John Liautaud, founder and CEO of the 1,000-franchise Jimmy John's Gourmet Sandwiches chain, posing next to fallen elephants (or, as the safari company's captions refer to them, a “78 lbs tusker” and “79 lbs tusker”).

In another photo, Liautaud is beaming behind a dead brown bear he paid to shoot in Alaska.

Liautaud wrote about paying to kill a buck on a canned hunt in his article “My Year of Hunting in 2009,” published two years ago in Hunting Illustrated: “This was the luckiest situation I’ve ever experienced in my lifetime … For Johnny to let this deer grow to be so old and mature, and to let me hunt him, was extremely generous.”

There are currently more than 1,000 captive hunting facilities in the United States that are "extremely generous" to those who pay to kill their animals.

In canned or captive hunts, trophy hunters pay to shoot animals with bullets or arrows. The animals, which are typically supplied by dealers, breeders, zoos and circuses, can't escape from their fenced-in confines. They are often hand raised and bottle fed to make them very trusting of people. Many facilities feed the animals at the same time in the same location — and that's where they bring the shooters to kill them.

Fortunately Liautaud's luck could be running out and he may need to take up a better hobby, at least here in the States. The Sportsmanship in Hunting Act of 2011 (H.R. 2210), sponsored by U.S. Reps. Steve Cohen of Tennessee and Brad Sherman of California, was introduced to Congress last month. If passed, it will crack down on canned hunting by prohibiting the transport of exotic animals for the purpose of killing them for trophies in confined areas. It will also ban the despicable practice of remote-controlled hunting over the internet.

The cruelty of canned hunting has resonated with Change.org members for a long time. More than 6,400 signed a petition created by Bryan D. Freehling two years ago that calls on the President and Congress to impose a ban.

Although these hunts are already prohibited or restricted in 26 states, it's up to Congress to end the interstate transportation of the animals, thus eliminating the hunting facilities' supplies.

“There’s absolutely nothing sporting about hand-raising tame animals, trucking them across the country, drugging them, and shooting them inside fenced pens or from the comfort of your keyboard,” said Michael Markarian, chief operating officer of the Humane Society of the United States, in a statement.

“The practice of killing tame, exotic animals within the confines of an enclosure where the animals have no chance of escape is contrary to the principles of fair chase, sportsmanship and common decency," Rep. Cohen said in the HSUS statement.

Please sign the petition urging your representative to support H.R. 2210 and help put an end to this cruel "sport." And in the meantime, you might want to think twice about supporting Liautaud's egregious hobby at Jimmy John's.

Photo credit: niiicedave