Home        Music        Gallery        Mail        News  
		
 

	

		

		
	
	

		
back
	

		

			

				

				

					

						

						Last Updated: Tuesday, 7 
						February 2006, 16:34 GMT
						 
						

							
						

 
						
					
				
				

					

						

						

							

								'Exotic hunting' thrives in Texas 
						
						
					
					

						

						

							

 
						
						
 
						
As we bounce through the dusty undergrowth in a 
						four-wheel drive, glimpsing rare antelope and even 
						giraffes, we could be forgiven for thinking we are on 
						safari in Africa - but we are not. 
						

						
						

							

								

								

									 
									

										Hunting unusual species is a 
										multi-million dollar industry
								
								
							
						
						
						
This is the YO ranch in Texas. Its website proudly 
						claims it is a "Mecca for hunting", with more than 50 
						different species including endangered animals from all 
						over the world. 
						
A price list offers a huge choice of rare species 
						charging up to $8,500 a kill. 
						
It is one of a staggering 500 ranches in Texas alone 
						that in recent years have switched from raising longhorn 
						cattle to the far more profitable, multi-million-dollar 
						industry known as "exotic hunting", where hunters 
						compete for the largest and most unusual trophies to 
						display on their walls. 
						
Our guide, YO hunting director Eric White, is keen to 
						show how he carefully breeds and manages herds of rare 
						antelope like the endangered scimitar-horned oryx - 
						virtually extinct in its native Africa but thriving on 
						his 6,000-acre (2,400-hectare) ranch in Texas. 
						
"Hunters are amazed. Around every bend you never know 
						what you're going to see," he says. 
						
"You could see a zebra, an oryx or an addax deer. You 
						can see animals here that you can almost no longer find 
						in Africa or India. 
						
"We are preserving entire species here in Texas." 
						
Firing back 
						
The only problem is that these species are being 
						saved simply to be killed, often in a cruel and 
						unsporting fashion, according to animal welfare 
						campaigners. 
						

						
						

							

								

								
								

								

									 
								
								

									

 These animals are on the brink of extinction, and we need to do 
										everything we can to preserve them
										

 
								
								

									

										Michael Markarian, HSUS
								
								
							
						
						
						
The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) 
						recently carried out an undercover investigation into 
						exotic hunting in Texas. 
						
Its investigators found many ranches were not as 
						ethically run as the YO. They filmed animals that 
						appeared so tame they did not run away from hunters and 
						even approached them apparently believing they would be 
						fed. 
						
"In some of these facilities you can pick the animal 
						you want and have it moved into a hunting pen then shoot 
						it the next day," the Humane Society's Michael Markarian 
						says. 
						
"It's like picking a lobster out of a tank at a 
						restaurant. It's not sportsmanship, there's no fair 
						chase." 
						
When they are shot, the society says, the animals 
						usually die a slow and lingering death as hunters do not 
						want to spoil their trophy by shooting them in the head.