![]() To him, the whole operation fits within a free market version of conservation. “If you take some of those males out, then you don’t have as much competition for the females, and then you a lot less natural death loss,” Molitor says. Males, on the other hand, are worth thousands as wall mounts, and hunting them keeps their populations low enough so they don’t slaughter one another while vying for mates. They’ll breed over and over, and they won’t be hunted when they could just be sold instead. Female zebras, for example, will roam unperturbed. Generally, the kills are “excess males” who aren’t needed for breeding. Whether a creature lives or dies usually boils down to its economic and practical value. These are violent deaths.”Īt Ox Ranch, about 1,500 animals were shot last year. All of us are going to be very uncomfortable. “Now, is it something that makes us comfortable? No. ![]() The way they’re dispatched “might actually be quite humane”, he said. Any kills will most likely be clean, inflicting little to no suffering or psychological trauma, explained Perry Barboza, a professor in the college of agriculture and life sciences at Texas A&M University.Īsked about the animals’ welfare and the way they meet their end, Barboza likened targets for canned hunts to cattle at slaughter plants. Then, hunters go out with guides who make sure that – outside of the target – their expensive livestock stay safe. Historic firearms, which can be shot by visitors, are displayed on a wall at the living military museum at the Ox Ranch. Owners sell to other owners, sometimes through auctions where animals are shocked and prodded into compliance. All of Ox Ranch’s exotics, for instance, came from inside the US. The industry doesn’t deplete or destroy a naturally occurring population instead, it creates its own populations to use for breeding and gun fodder. “Literally just Google Texas exotic hunting ranch, and you will get pages, and pages, and pages of results,” Hagio says.Įxotic ranches are a universe unto themselves, self-controlled and largely self-sustaining. The Humane Society of the United States estimates that there are around 500 captive hunting operations in Texas, and more than a thousand nationwide. So instead of sheep or goats, landowners are turning to bongos and kudus. ![]() Ranchers need to make money – and exotic animals offer a steady revenue stream. Theirs is far from the only enterprise of its kind in Texas, a state where more than 95% of the land is privately owned and property taxes are high. It’s a promise with low stakes, since they’re convinced it will never happen.Ī wildebeest rug displayed in the 6,000-sq-ft lodge. According to Texas Parks and Wildlife, exotic animals can be harvested “by any means or methods at any time of year”.īut Molitor and Oxley have both said they’d end the hunting portion of their operations if anyone was willing to send them the millions a year it takes to maintain their ranch. “So these ranches bear zero resemblance to traditional hunting, and there’s just nothing ethical about shooting a captive animal.”Īmid a complex tapestry of state laws around exotic animals and canned hunts, Texas sits along the more lenient end of the spectrum. ![]() “These animals are literally being bred for the bullet, and then they’re stocked and shot within these fenced enclosures, where they have no chance of escape,” explains Samantha Hagio, director of wildlife protection for the Humane Society of the United States. He suggests that the area’s sweeping acreage blunts any advantage to hunters – and yet unlike in the wild, it’s rare for someone to leave without making a kill. Photograph: Tamir Kalifa/The GuardianĪt Ox Ranch, Molitor likes to think of the facility’s high fences as a management tool. ![]()
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