Fresh off a resounding defeat at the ballot box in Colorado, anti-hunting and anti-wildlife management extremists are at it again. This time, they set their target on the use of dogs for hunting in Arizona.
The Center for Biological Diversity, WildEarth Guardians, Sierra Club and several other animal rights/environmentalist organizations petitioned the Arizona Game and Fish Commission to ban the use of hounds to hunt mountain lions and other species.
Arizona, like other states, utilizes strict hunting regulations to meet management objectives in sustaining healthy and balanced wildlife populations. Hounds are the traditional means for hunters to find and take mountain lions, and attacks on GPS collars show a lack of understanding of how they work.
Ironically, the petitioners state they are “not concerned with the use of dogs for flushing, pointing and retrieving game birds and waterfowl,” but their petition makes it a crime if those same hunters take a rabbit in a mixed bag hunt. They also quote a study on public perceptions about hunting mountain lions and black bears in Colorado, even though voters there recently defeated Proposition 127, which sought an outright ban on mountain lion hunting.
The petition includes many false claims such as dogs are starved by their owners, can negatively impact ecosystems and may attack people on public land.
The Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation continues to monitor the situation and is working with other Arizona hunting organizations to mount a sustained defense against these anti-hunting efforts. While there may be some public comment about the issue at the December 6th commission meeting, it is expected the commission will officially address it at its January 24, 2025, meeting.
(Photo credit: Arizona Game and Fish Department)