There will be no thrill of the chase and the quarry will stand little chance, even from 5,000 miles away. Britons, however, are clamoring to sign up for the latest Internet thrill: hunting and shooting a real animal with the click of a mouse.

More than 300 people, including Scots, Londoners, and other would-be marksmen from Australia to Peru, have put down money for a live game shoot in which they will squeeze the trigger via their computer and modem.

Catalina goats, Barbary sheep, fallow deer, red stags, and blackbuck antelope are among the exotic species available for the remote hunts, which take place in Texas.

England’s foxhunting ban has made it one of the target countries for the man behind the venture, John Lockwood, a car body repair estimator in San Antonio, Texas. His Internet site is the first dedicated to what critics have branded “pay-per-view slaughter.”

He said: “The system is designed for people who can’t hunt the old-fashioned way, such as the handicapped, those in a country that doesn’t allow hunting or armed forces overseas. It’s a service.”

Howard Giles, 30, was the first person to shoot a real animal on the Internet, using a 30.06 telescopic rifle rigged up in a shed on Mr. Lockwood’s ranch and linked to the worldwide web.

“I was real nervous about it,” said Mr. Giles. “I was sitting in my home office about 45 miles away, just waiting.” After an hour, a solitary wild hog wandered from the undergrowth about 60 yards from the shed.

“You can easily get a range of about 100 yards and I was just waiting for it to get clear of the trees and brush so I could get a good, clear shot.”

Mr. Giles clicked the mouse, the rifle fired, and the hog was hit in the neck. “He didn’t die right away but there was no way he was going to make it,” he said. “So the most humane thing was for John to run out and finish him off.”

Legislators in Texas and other American states have already moved to ban the practice and even hunting organizations have condemned it. English groups are also appalled. “This is absolutely despicable,” said a spokesman for the British Association for Shooting and Conservation. “It takes away all the elements of fieldcraft and respect for quarry.”

The next Internet hunt is scheduled for April 9.

The cost of killing an animal over the Internet is just $15 a month for membership and $150 for an hour-long hunt.