by Christopher Sanchez
Daily Lobo
Thanks to the Wild Friends Program at UNM, cyberhunting is on its way to being banned in New Mexico.
Computer-assisted remote hunting, or cyberhunting, allows people to control a camera-equipped firearm to kill live animals without physically being there.
Cyberhunting was introduced through a Web site in Texas last year that allowed people to kill wild hogs on a ranch whose owner lured them near the rifle with a feeding trough. It has since been banned in Texas and 10 other states.
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More than 700 students from 18 New Mexico schools were involved in drafting and lobbying a bill to ban cyberhunting in the state, said Carolyn Byers, director of the Wild Friends Program.
The Senate passed the bill Feb. 6, and the House of Representatives passed it Feb. 13. The bill passed by a landslide without any opposition.
"The bill sailed through legislation," Byers said. "Everyone agreed making this illegal in New Mexico was a good idea."
The next step is getting Gov. Bill Richardson to sign the bill, which he promised to do, Byers said. The bill must be signed 20 days after the legislative session ends to become a law. The legislative session ended Thursday.
Every year, students in the program vote on a wildlife topic to lobby for.
"When school starts, we offer a selection of three to five topics and provide ballots, so the students decide what issue they want to work on," she said. "We stress the theme of finding common ground in protecting natural heritage."
Once a topic is chosen, she said, students research and work on drafts of the bill. The program then compiles a master draft.
"It gives them a sense of how government works, standing at a very grass-roots level," she said.
More than 400 students attended the Legislature during 14 field trips to lobby for the ban. While at the Capitol, students handed out fact sheets and colored maps with the states that have banned cyberhunting or are in the process of banning it.
The Wild Friends Program helps elementary through high school students understand the democratic process and allows them to contribute to wildlife conservation, Byers said.
UNM student Stephanie Sanchez has volunteered in the program since she was 18 and was a member at age 11. She said drafting a bill is difficult.
"It's hectic in trying to get all the students' opinions and comments, and what they want to include into the bill," she said. "It's a lot of negotiating."
She was surprised at how engaged students were.
"They brought in their personal experiences, as some students were hunters, and they talk about their concerns and the hunting aspect about it," she said.
Byers said the program is a deviation from traditional studies.
"It's out of the ordinary, what they are doing," she said. "It's not your average reading, writing and arithmetic."
Laura Finley, a senior at Sandia High School, said she has been in the program since sixth grade. She said students chose the ban on cyberhunting, because it is supported by the National Rifle Association and the Humane Society of the United States.
Drafting the bill helped Finley learn how to work with people who had views differing from her own.
"If you could find common ground on an issue, a lot could happen and people will be happy," she said.
