SACRAMENTO -- California wildlife regulators took the first step Tuesday to bar hunters from using the Internet to hunt animals long distance, responding to a Texas target shooting site that announced plans to let hunters fire guns at real animals by clicking a computer mouse hundreds of miles away.

"We don't think Californians should be able to hunt sitting at their computers at home," said Steve Martarano, a spokesman for the state Department of Fish and Game.

The Fish and Game Commission, which sets policy for the department, ordered wildlife officials to prepare emergency regulations to ban the practice outside the usual three-year cycle for revising hunting regulations.

The department must draft the regulations and the public will get a chance to comment, so the ban may not be adopted until perhaps August, Martarano said.

The move comes less than two weeks after the state Senate voted 25-6 in favor of such a ban.

The bill by Sen. Debra Bowen, D-Redondo Beach, which now moves to the Assembly, would prohibit use of computer-assisted hunting sites, bar such sites from operating in California and prohibit the importation or exportation of any animal or part of an animal killed using computer-assisted hunting.

At least 14 other states and Congress are considering similar bills.

Groups including the California Sportsmen's Association, Safari Club International and the Outdoor Sportsman's Coalition of California support the ban, saying hunting over the Internet is unethical and unsporting.

Supporters have suggested the remote hunting could be beneficial for hunters with disabilities, and questioned why Californians should be barred from patronizing a legitimate Texas business.