HARRISBURG, Pa.
- The Fund for Animals has sued to challenge
a decision by state Game Commission officials that boars
in a pay-to-hunt facility in northern Pennsylvania are
not subject to the agency's regulation.
The suit claims that some of the animals available to
be hunted at the Tioga Boar Hunting Preserve in Tioga
County - including Russian and European boars - are
protected mammals that may not be hunted because state
regulations do not permit it.
The 200,000-member national anti-hunting group wants
Commonwealth Court to issue a cease-and-desist order
against the 1,500-acre preserve, said attorney Gordon A.
Einhorn.
The business' price list includes $495 for boar, $495
and up for Corsican ram, and $2,000 and up for buffalo.
Some of their animals, Einhorn said, "cannot be hunted
without specific authorization, and there is no
authorization under state law."
The Game Commission lacks jurisdiction over swine,
said spokesman Jerry Feaser. Tioga Boar Hunting Preserve
holds the required animal propagation permits for deer
and elk, he said, and has latitude about hunting other
species on its private property.
"Let's put it to you this way, for comparison. If I'm
a farmer and I have some dairy cows, and I decide for
some reason to allow some people to come in and shoot
them, there's nothing the Game Commission can do,"
Feaser said.
Mike Gee, a guide at the preserve, said the
plaintiffs "have got too much to think about."
"We just hope that people around the state and the
Game Commission and all our lawmakers have enough sense
to not let this happen," Gee said.
ON THE NET
Pa. Game Commission:
http://www.pgc.state.pa.us
Tioga Boar Hunting Preserve:
http://hunt-tioga.com/
The Fund for Animals:
http://www.fund.org
