Provoking outrage and skepticism in equal measure, local reports of a Las Vegas company offering men the opportunity to hunt and shoot naked women with paintball guns burgeoned into an international news story today, while the company's Website, HuntingforBambi.com, was intermittently inaccessible due to high user traffic.
Skeptics are suspicious of the claim — even though it's backed up by 'real' video footage — that the game's female prey aren't allowed to wear protective gear of any kind, not even goggles, putting them at risk of injuries for which the company's owners would be liable. Indeed, even Fox News, which is reporting the story as factual, quotes a legal expert who says, 'I couldn't quite believe it. [The site] advertised this as really hurting people. [They're] violating about 20 criminal laws, including assault.' Paintball products manufacturer Brass Eagle, Inc. issued a press release yesterday stating that playing paintball nude 'may result in significant bodily injury' and 'serious eye injury, including blindness.'
Though the site is equipped for e-commerce and will readily accept your credit card deposit of $2,500 for booking a hunt (return policy: 'No refunds are allowed whatsoever'), certain features are clearly intended as a joke — for example, the Wall Mounts page, which boasts doctored images of nude females hung like hunting trophies on a wall, and the Challenge page, which contains photos of famous women 'we would like to challenge to be hunted,' including Oprah Winfrey, Hillary Clinton and Jane Fonda.
The most legitimate-looking part of the site, ironically, is a section called BambiDolls, which features the photographs and phone numbers of 'the hotest [sic] female escorts in Las Vegas.' Exactly the same names, photos and phone numbers appear in other escort service ads around the Web. [NOTE: Those numbers, links and indeed all references to 'escort services' were deleted from the Hunting for Bambi Website soon after this article was published.]
Update I: Spokesman Says Hunts Are Real
Update II: KLAS-TV Confirms the Story
Update III: Friend of 'Bambi Hunter' Says Nude Paintball Hunts Are a Hoax
Update IV: It's Official: 'Hunting for Bambi' a Hoax, Says Vegas Mayor
Skeptics are suspicious of the claim — even though it's backed up by 'real' video footage — that the game's female prey aren't allowed to wear protective gear of any kind, not even goggles, putting them at risk of injuries for which the company's owners would be liable. Indeed, even Fox News, which is reporting the story as factual, quotes a legal expert who says, 'I couldn't quite believe it. [The site] advertised this as really hurting people. [They're] violating about 20 criminal laws, including assault.' Paintball products manufacturer Brass Eagle, Inc. issued a press release yesterday stating that playing paintball nude 'may result in significant bodily injury' and 'serious eye injury, including blindness.'
Though the site is equipped for e-commerce and will readily accept your credit card deposit of $2,500 for booking a hunt (return policy: 'No refunds are allowed whatsoever'), certain features are clearly intended as a joke — for example, the Wall Mounts page, which boasts doctored images of nude females hung like hunting trophies on a wall, and the Challenge page, which contains photos of famous women 'we would like to challenge to be hunted,' including Oprah Winfrey, Hillary Clinton and Jane Fonda.
The most legitimate-looking part of the site, ironically, is a section called BambiDolls, which features the photographs and phone numbers of 'the hotest [sic] female escorts in Las Vegas.' Exactly the same names, photos and phone numbers appear in other escort service ads around the Web. [NOTE: Those numbers, links and indeed all references to 'escort services' were deleted from the Hunting for Bambi Website soon after this article was published.]
Update I: Spokesman Says Hunts Are Real
Update II: KLAS-TV Confirms the Story
Update III: Friend of 'Bambi Hunter' Says Nude Paintball Hunts Are a Hoax
Update IV: It's Official: 'Hunting for Bambi' a Hoax, Says Vegas Mayor
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