The Hindu Business Line : Hunt with your mouse

THE possibilities of the Internet, we know, are quite mind-boggling. These days you can even think online through your blog. Yet, it was shocking to many diehard netizens to learn that they can hunt animals online through a Web site.

A Texas, US-based Web site, Live-shot.com, came up with this offer to let its subscribers hunt animals from the comfort of their room.

They can target their prey through a camera, fire a gun by clicking a mouse, and test their hunting skills. No potentially dangerous face-offs in the wild. It's only you and your computer. The animal could be thousands of miles away.

The technology that Live-shot.com uses is pretty simple. Paid members to the site can have access to cameras that survey a range. They take control of a camera that is attached to a rifle. Once the target is made, you can click the mouse to fire the gun.

"Live-shot is a new concept. You can challenge yourself and compare your skills to other members with our online target shooting. We have developed a system where you can control a pan/tilt/zoom camera and a firearm to shoot at real targets in real time," says the Web site.

Just like in another online business, Live-shot.com has also taken care to have some `customer care' at its site. It will answer queries from users through e-mail and messaging during a shooting session to `ensure a quality experience.' And in order to prevent any mishap or misuse, the Web site's officials can take control of the gun, superseding the subscribers.

The Web site now offers only paper and silhouette targets for those who are trigger-happy. And to shoot animals, one will have to take a hunting licence in Texas, which can be obtained online.

But it seems Live-shot will have to fight lawmakers if it wants to go ahead with its plan to provide real-time hunting of animals online.

When the news broke out about Live-shot.com, there was a hue and cry in the US to ban such online hunting of animals. It is reported that at least 14 States now plan to enact rules to ban online shooting of animals.

The Fish and Game Commission in California has ordered emergency regulations against using the Internet to hunt. Even in Texas, which is supposedly hunter-friendly, the Parks and Wildlife Department has banned Internet hunting of `native Texas game animals.'

The movement is catching on. But there is also a view that disabled people can enjoy hunting through such a mechanism.

It remains to be seen whether Live-shot.com will be able to finally start offering online hunting of animals given the opposition it has generated.

But its idea is sure to fire up the imagination of some Hollywood scriptwriters. How about a story in which the villain shoots down his prey from another continent, online?

vipin@thehindu.co.in

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