HOUND HUNTING IN MINNESOTA? SAY IT ISN'T SO!

If you've been paying attention to the debate over gray wolves in the Great Lakes Region (Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan) you may have heard about hound hunting.  Hound hunting is when a hunter uses a pack of dogs to chase and often kill wildlife such as raccoons, coyotes, wolves, bears, cougars, etc… Hound hunting of wolves isn't legal in Minnesota but it was legal in Wisconsin up until the gray wolf was placed back on the endangered species list in December 2014.  Unfortunately, it turns out, Minnesota does allow hound hunting of many other animals such as coyote, foxes, raccoons and waterfowl and apparently we're all ok with the problems that go along with it… or are we?

Did you know that Minnesota has some of the strictest animal cruelty laws (click here for MN statutes on animal cruelty) and one law pertaining to animal cruelty is dog fighting.  The state statute reads like this:

343.31 ANIMAL FIGHTS AND POSSESSION OF FIGHTING ANIMALS

Subd. 1. Penalty for animal fighting; attending animal fight.  (a) Whoever does any of the following is guilty of a felony:
     (1) Promotes, engages in, or is employed in the activity of cockfighting, dogfighting, or violin pitting of one pet or companion animal as define din section 346.35, subdivision 6, against another of the same or different kind;
     (4) uses, trains, or possesses a dog or other animal for the purpose of participating in, engaging in, or promoting that activity.
     (c) whoever possesses any device or substance with the intent to use or permit the use of the device or substance to enhance an animal's ability to fight is guilty of a gross misdemeanor.
     (d) The subdivision shall not apply to the taking of a wild animal by hunting.

but oddly, as you notice in Subd 1 (d) that dog fighting doesn't apply to wild animals like coyotes or foxes and even more strange would be that hounds are often killed or seriously injured while used for hunting but hound hunters aren't being held responsible.

So let's take a look at a coyote for a second:



Now let's look at a fox:



You can domesticate a fox and a coyote the same way you can release a dog into the wild and that dog will become aggressive and defensive in order to survive.  So how are the two any different? One eats wild prey and the other eats commercial ground up beef, liver and chicken that's been turned into dried dog food.

Look at what hunters make their hounds do to coyotes:

In Minnesota, aside from there being no bag limit on coyotes which means you can kill as many as you like, there is also the issue of what happens to the hounds that hunters use to do their dirty work.

and hunters have the audacity to blame the wild animal for the death of their dog.  These dogs don't ask to be put in these situations their owners send them out into the wild and when the dog encounters a wild animal that is bigger and stronger than they are what you see above is what happens.  Hunters like to use the photos above to whine and complain above wolves and they use these pictures as evidence of why wolves should be killed but the reality is wolves couldn't have killed their dog had they not used their dog as a killer.

Side note: Wisconsin is the only state in the U.S. that goes so far as to use money from their endangered species fund to pay a hound hunter for the loss of each dog killed while hunting. (CLICK HERE)

Back in 2004 and 2005 hunters pushed to pass a bill that would allow hound hunting of bears and this is why the bill did not pass:

1 - Hound hunting is highly stressful to prey
2 - Cubs are often killed by the hounds
3 - Hound hunting is unsporting
4 - Hound hunting is very cruel to dogs

Now ask yourself, is hound hunting only cruel to the dog when hunting bear? Is hound hunting only stressful to prey when hunting coyote? Why did the legislature fail to pass the hound hunting of bears bill but they allow hound hunting of other wild animals?  Our legislature is quite schizophrenic when it comes to passing laws but in this case it is quite obvious they have no idea what they are doing.  What they should be asking themselves is shouldn't animal cruelty laws apply to all animals not just the ones we invite into our homes?  If our animal cruelty laws don't apply to wild animals at the very least they should apply to hounds used for hunting.  Why don't they?