Internet hunting?

Hunting on the internet? Ya' mean more than just googling your old boyfriend/girlfriend or roommate?

Uh, no... this is a completely different animal.

Internet hunting allows a computer user to aim and fire a weapon that is mounted on a mechanized tripod at a remote location, often a ranch where animals are penned and then shot at close range. Hunters sign-up online and pay to give it their best shot. Kinda like a video game but with deadly consequences.

I had never heard of internet hunting before two minutes ago when a local channel broadcast a story about legislative efforts to prohibit it.

There are a number of reasons why this -- internet hunting, that is -- bothers me... I understand that to many, hunting is a sport or even a necessity, but I don't think it should be reduced essentially to a video game. Gratuitous killing. If one is going to hunt, I think one should deal with all aspects of the experience, including the carcass. I worry about the regulation of this practice -- are there age, training, use restrictions? And if hunting is indeed a sport, how sporting is it when the animals don't even have a fair shot at escape? The bottom line seems to me that internet hunting is nothing more than entertainment, and if that's the case, why not make the entire experience virtual, including the animals?

I guess this proves that the uses of the internet are only constrained by our collective imaginations -- because if the idea is there, it seems that the technology will soon follow.