Arizona Canned Hunt Statutes and Regulations

Complete Ban

Statute

The Arizona Game and Fish Commission is authorized to "adopt rules and regulations and issue licenses for the conduct of field trials, shooting preserves, private wildlife farms and zoos, or for the personal use and possession of wildlife so as to safeguard the interests of the wildlife and people of the state" (§17-238A).

Any person holding a permit may "buy, sell and transport wildlife legally possessed," although advance approval is necessary, as well as a report, if requested by the Commissioner (§17-238B).

The Commissioner may issue a private game farm license for a fee of $75, or a shooting preserve license for a fee of $130 (§17-333 26, 32).

It is illegal “to sell the heads, horns, hides, feet or skin of bighorn sheep taken on or after October 1, 2005, but the department may sell” these items if “illegally taken and confiscated by or donated” (§17-371.2).

Regulation

Arizona regulations define captive live wildlife as "held in captivity, physically restrained, confined, impaired, or deterred to prevent it from escaping to the wild or moving freely in the wild." The term exotic refers to "wildlife or offspring of wildlife that is not native to North America." The term game farm refers to "a commercial operation that is designed and operated for the purpose of propagating, rearing, or selling terrestrial wildlife or the parts of terrestrial wildlife for any purpose stated in R12-4-413."

The term shooting preserve refers to "any operation where live wildlife is released for the purpose of hunting" (R12-4-401).

A private game farm license requires the "commercial use of wildlife held under the license." Wildlife may be killed on private game farms; however, wildlife shall not be killed by hunting. No individual can pay "a fee to the owner of the game farm for killing the wildlife, nor shall the game farm owner accept a fee for killing the wildlife, except as allowed under R12-4-414, R12-4-415, R12-4-416, and R12-4-419" all of which refer to game birds and not mammals (R12-4-413A).

A private game farm must apply for a license with information about the wildlife "species and number of animals per species that will be used" and "a detailed description or diagram of the facilities" (R12-4-413B). 

Anyone who legally possessed restricted wildlife before the license requirement went into effect "may continue to possess the wildlife and to use it for any purpose that was lawful before the effective date" if the Department is notified in writing of the restricted live wildlife held, the numbers held, "and the purpose for which it is used". The wildlife and any offspring may only be disposed of through exportation, to a holder of a special license, euthanasia, or "as otherwise directed in writing by the Department" (R12-4-425).

An Arizona Game and Fish Department official stated that none of the facilities grandfathered to shoot mammals in 1989 are operating under this exception and therefore “no mammals are to be permitted to be taken under a shooting preserve license currently in existence, or under one that would be issues in the future.”

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