Shooting animals confined inside pens is a dirty, demeaning business. It's not just me saying so. Just listen to hunters.

In fact, hunters in North Dakota are leading the way in urging voters to outlaw this misguided activity, which bears no relationship to hunting or to sport. We of the Humane Society of the United States lend our voices to their efforts.

Some North Dakota sportsmen might be skeptical of the Humane Society, though I am sure they would sympathize with much of our work, including our efforts to combat malicious animal cruelty, dogfighting, puppy mills and the like. But we applaud the North Dakota hunters who aim to put the "hunt" back in hunting and the "wild" back in wildlife. And we're not ashamed to say so. Americans want, and deserve, this kind of outreach and problem-solving.

What happens at these "game ranches" or "shooting preserves" is downright chilling. Big-game animals are bred and hand-reared, so they have little fear of people. When they reach adulthood, they are released into fenced enclosures to be shot by affluent clients willing to pay large sums - sometimes many thousand dollars - for a guaranteed "trophy."

It's not hunting; it's just killing by people in a rush who don't want to get their boots scuffed. Think of it, those farmed elk just might mistake one of these shooters for the kindly fellow who makes the feeding rounds. How could they tell otherwise? Not knowing better, these animals sometimes willingly approach. It's the same as if the local zoo was opened to hunting.

Nearly two dozen states have already banned or severely restricted this practice including Arizona, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Washington and Wyoming. Time and time again, hunters, humane groups, environmentalists and just plain sound-thinking people have joined forces for the common good.

David Peterson, editor of the book, "A Hunter's Heart," and a hunting-rights activist, has called these penned shoots "staggeringly stupid."

(Dave Pauli is the director of the Northern Rockies regional office for The Humane Society of the United States. - Editor)