When Hunters Torture Wildlife

I spoke to an ex hound hunter who told me he witnessed bear hound hunters push their hounds to kill a fully grown black bear in the north woods of WI.
Is this the new “American exceptionalism” for hunters to torture wildlife as government agencies have embraced? 

Bear hunters are in the north woods of WI training their hounds to chase the scent of black bears staring July first. Bear hound hunters are feeding bears sweet treats such as Cheerios. 

Is baiting even hunting?  

Two summers ago I was driving down a rural WI road when a frightened black bear came running out of the woods onto the road in front of me. The bear stopped in the middle of the road, held up his paw at me, then ran back into the woods. This bear looked exhausted from being pursued by hound hunting dogs.  What’s even more startling was hearing the cries of a bear cub in the woods near where I saw the exhausted sow. 

Black black bear sows hide their pecious babies in a tree in an attempt to save thier lives. 

 

http://www.billlea.com/ Bill Lea photgraph used with permission
 
When hound hunters torture wildlife 

Hound hunters claim they respect the animals they hunt. But I guestion the ethics in that, especially when hound hunters leave messages like the following one in my inbox. “Best way to take care of wolf problem is run a wolf hound in your pack or feed them antifreeze.”

Several states have banned hunting bear with dogs. 

“With the passage of Senate bill 1221, California joins 14 other states—including Colorado, Oregon, Washington, and Montana—that allow bear hunting but prohibit the use of hounds. Oregon voted against the practice in 1994, while Montana banned hounding almost a century ago.”

“A 2011 survey conducted by Mason-Dixon Polling & Research, Inc. found that 83 percent of California voters opposed hounding of bears. Thousands of people wrote to the Humane Society of the United States, supporting the organization’s efforts to pass the ban, and though Brown signed more regular session bills (12,744) this year than any other of the state’s governors since Ronald Reagan, few sparked the outcry that surrounded SB 1221. Source http://www.outsideonline.com/1912686/end-hound-hunting-bears-california

“Black bears usually run away when dogs chase them. Even the smallest breeds of dogs have scared black bears away.” quote and photograph are from http://www.bear.org/website/bear-pages/black-bear/bears-a-humans/40-what-about-bears-and-dogs.html

Is this what Americans want to be know as “wildlife tortuers?”

One Reply to “When Hunters Torture Wildlife”

  1. Disgusting is too mild a word. Sending hounds after a bear is not sportsmanship or at least I don’t see it as such. I’d call it legalized assassination. I am ashamed of being of the same species as these barbarians.

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