EVANSVILLE, IN (December 10, 2004) -- Expressing outrage at the hunting death of a 13-year-old boy, The Fund for Animals, an animal protection organization with 200,000 members and active supporters nationwide, is calling for Indiana to establish a minimum hunting age of 16. According to a news report on 14WFIE, Evansville, the teenager, who was not identified in the report, was squirrel hunting with two other boys in Virgo County south of Terre-Haute on Saturday, December 4 when he was fatally shot.

Indiana has no minimum hunting age. The Indiana Department of Natural Resources encourages children to hunt by offering a "Combined Youth Hunting/Fishing License" to residents under 18 for just $7. The "Combined Youth License" covers most forms of hunting, including deer and turkey hunting. A review of Indiana’s hunting and fishing regulations reveals that comparable adult licenses would cost more than $80.

"The only purpose of these cut-rate licenses is to recruit children who are too young to hunt safely," said Fund program coordinator Norm Phelps. "The DNR is gambling with the lives of Indiana’s children, and last Saturday a child and his family paid the price. Hunters have to make split-second decisions about firing a high-powered, long-range weapon under intense emotional stress," Phelps continued. "Even the most mature of young children cannot do this safely and responsibly on a consistent basis, and it is unrealistic to expect a hunter education class to make up for a child’s natural lack of emotional maturity.

After all, 13 year-olds wouldn’t be allowed to drive even if they were to take a driver education class."

Fund for Animals’ president Michael Markarian said, "Indiana is showing a reckless disregard for public safety by putting firearms in the hands of children. When a child is killed, or kills someone else, the responsibility for this tragedy rests with the legislators and bureaucrats who failed to protect them. Because of Indiana’s negligence, a child has died and a family has lost a son."

Added Fund for Animals national director Heidi Prescott, "Indiana has a minimum age of 16 for driving a car and 21 for drinking alcohol because officials recognize that these activities require physical, intellectual, and emotional maturity. But Indiana allows young children to go hunting with a high-powered rifle or shotgun. It makes no sense."