The recent hype over an Alabama 11-year-old shooting a 1,051-pound boar May 3 brings attention to the issues of canned hunts and trophy hunting.

The animal was killed by pre-teen Jamison Stone at the Lost Creek Plantation, a “commercial hunting preserve” in Georgia. The website publicizing the kill carries the tagline: “We are not ashamed to hunt on hunting preserves.” Hunters call these areas “hunting preserves,” “shooting preserves” or “game ranches.” The Humane Society of the United States calls them ”canned hunting” operations.

You may recall the 2003 shooting excursion by Vice President Dick Cheney and other politicians, who killed hundreds of pen-raised pheasants and Mallard ducks at the Rolling Rock Club in Pennsylvania. The animals at these facilities often have been stocked from private breeders and animal dealers specifically to be killed. There is an ongoing debate over whether the Georgia boar was really a wild feral pig or a domestic hog released on the hunting preserve. One of the hallmarks of canned hunting is that the animals are used to human contact and therefore make easy targets.

Canned hunting is illegal in some places. The following states do not allow canned hunting of mammals: Arizona, Connecticut, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Washington and Wyoming. However, according to The Humane Society of the United States, animal-related laws such as the Animal Welfare Act and the Endangered Species Act do not protect animals used in this type of activity in the states where it is legal.

Trophy hunting is another egregious practice. To protect the head and chest of the animal from being damaged, hunters shoot animals in parts of their bodies that take them much longer to die. The Alabama boy reportedly shot the boar eight times before finally killing it with a final shot three hours later. The boar’s head is going to be mounted as a trophy by the boy’s family.