The owners of three Limpopo game farms have been accused of allowing a "canned massacre" of animals on their properties. The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals has obtained a court order that allows it to monitor unimpeded the shooting of animals on the farms.Rights groups have labelled the shooting excursions " highly unethical" and a "canned massacre".Employees of the farms, near Alldays, drive animals from thick bush into cleared areas. People positioned on raised platforms then open fire on the exposed animals. This is known as "driven hunting", though no "hunting" in the usual sense is involved.On Monday 13 tourists from Belgium and the Netherlands killed at least 18 animals.Farm employees and the man believed to be the tour operator, Dutchman Anton de Vries, did not return calls from The Times.A receptionist at De Vries's company, SA Fruit Exporters, said she had been told not to reveal De Vries's cellphone number. She said the company "had nothing to do" with the excursions.Ainslee Hay, head of the NSPCA's wildlife protection unit, said the society was gathering photographic and video evidence."We have heard of such hunts in Europe but this is the first time we have come across this occurring in South Africa." She said the activity was legal only because of loopholes in legislation.However, the Limpopo department of environmental affairs said it was satisfied the hunt was legal, News24 reported.''It is governed by the Limpopo Environmental Management Act and we authorise hunting as an economic activity and we issue licences for potential hunters, including international investors,'' spokesman Simon Matume reportedly said.Smaragda Louw, of Ban Animal Trading, said: "This has nothing to do with conservation or preservation of wildlife or empowerment. What is happening is nothing more than a 'canned massacre'."Adri Kitshoff of the Professional Hunters' Association said this type of "hunting" was unusual."Foreign hunters must be accompanied by licensed South African professional hunters, with one local licensed hunter guiding a maximum of two foreign hunters. If these requirements are not met, the hunt will be illegal."..