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Proposed legislation that would have legalized the deplorable practice of canned hunting met a quick death, thankfully, in the legislature. But the hunts, sadly, continue at several high-fence game areas while the Indiana Department of Natural Resources continues its long legal battle to enforce state laws banning them and shut them down.
“Certainly, things stay simple in the litigation not having the new legislation enacted,” said DNR deputy director and chief legal counsel Adam Warnke.
House Bill 1351 died in the Indiana House of Representative Natural Resources Committee last week. The legislation would have allowed licensing of game preserves for hunting of privately owned deer and game birds. It’s unfortunate that while many states are closing down canned hunting operations and enacting bans, some Indiana legislators are still looking to legalize the operations.
The next step in the legal battle is a Feb. 14 hearing in Harrison County Circuit Court. The plaintiffs, owners of 10 high-fenced game preserves, want the court to enforce a proposal that was floated but never finalized during settlement talks between the state and the preserve owners in 2006. The proposed settlement would have allowed existing preserve owners to operate for 10 to 12 years to recoup their investment before ultimately ending canned hunting.
“That was a fluid set of discussions, and there was never a concrete agreement,” Warnke said.
The losing side is certain to appeal, and it’s not likely the court will be able to resolve the issue as quickly as sporting hunters, advocates for humane treatment of animals or the DNR would like. At least state natural resource officials won’t have to contend with new legislation confusing the legal case. It’s enough that they must contend with a handful of preserve owners who want to pass off the slaughter of fenced-in animals as hunting.
