HSUS >> Wildlife Abuse >> Campaigns >> Captive Hunts
Game Ranching: A New Way to Separate City Slickers from Their Money
http://www.hsus.org/wildlife_abuse/campaigns/canned/game_ranching.html
According to Safari Club International, an organization dedicated to big game trophy hunting, the first game ranch in the United States was the Y.O. Ranch in Mountain Home, Texas, two hours southwest of San Antonio.
Founded in 1880 as a longhorn cattle ranch, the Y.O. introduced Indian blackbuck antelopes in 1953. When the blackbucks thrived, the Y.O. went into the business of exotic hunts, and ranch managers began adding other species of exotic deer including axis, sika, and fallow.
Today, the Y.O. advertises "North America's largest collection of exotic wild animals—zebras, giraffes, ostriches, sika, oryx, aoudad and eland—over 50 different species. The Y.O. is a hunting mecca for photographers, native game hunters and exotic game hunters from everywhere."
Now, of course, this ranch is into the "totally evil" business of canned hunts...so is on the 'black'list for all left-thinking animal lovers.
BUT...
http://www.yoranch.com/YORanch.html
With more than 60 species of animals calling the Y.O. Ranch home, it's not surprising that some guests have referred to it as the "cradle of life." Thanks to the ranch's long-running conservation programs, people can see animals such as North African scimitar-horned oryx and Indian barrasingha deer that are severely threatened on their home ranges. Other species that live free-range on the 40,000-acre ranch include: black buck antelope from West Pakistan; aoudad sheep from North Africa; corsican rams from Corsica and Sardinia; sika deer from China and Japan; and axis deer from India; fallow deer, red stag and mouflon sheep from Europe; red sheep from Iran; and eland from South Africa as well as native white-tailed deer and Rio Grande wild turkey.
As so often is the case, this private business turns out to be far more efficient at SAVING endangered animals than government operations. Because they are well-paid for their hunts, they have the money to take excellent care of all their animals...and they do it with "rich people's money," not a tax on the poorest of the poor, the way so many of the energy and sin taxes operate.
Now, which way of preservation is truly evil??
