Under legislation introduced by California State Senator Ted Lieu (D-Torrance), bear and bobcat houndsmen would no longer be able to use dogs to pursue their prey in California; a practice which animal welfareadvocates believe to be inhumane, unsporting and unfair.
This hunting practice uses dogs, often equipped with radio collars, to chase bears and bobcats to exhaustion. In their attempt to escape, the bear or bobcat often takes refuge in a tree. The dogs hold them until the hunter arrives who then kills at close range. ”It’s typically a high-tech hunt that results in an animal being shot out of a tree, which is unsporting and the equivalent of shooting an animal in a cage at the zoo,” said Wayne Pacelle, president and CEO of the Humane Society of the United States who is sponsoring the bill. “It was the abuses associated with hunting of hounds that prompted California voters in 1990 to outlaw all trophy hunting of mountain lions. The same ethical issues are at work with bear and bobcat hunting.”
Supporters of the bill argued that the practice is cruel for both the targeted animals and the hounds, which are sometimes injured or killed and often treated inhumanely. Other wildlife are often harassed, disturbed or physically harmed during hounding pursuits as well. “California has a long history of protecting its resources and protecting animal welfare,” Lieu said about Senate Bill 1221. “The continued use of hound hunting runs counter, however, to California’s reputation as a humane state. Hound hunting of bears is illegal in two-thirds of the United States; the time has come for California to abolish this inhumane and unnecessary practice.” Hound hunting is banned in 14 states, including many other major bear-hunting states such as Colorado, Montana, Wyoming, Oregon and Washington.