Reblog: State Sanctioned Disposable Dogs

This is a real look at what is happening to our wildlife in Wisconsin.

This is not about being anti-hunting, or about sporting dogs who work cooperatively in a hunt with their handlers, or about hunters using dogs to track down game so the animal is not left to suffer.

This is about using GPS collared dogs being used to find, trap and fight wildlife at a very far distance from any supervision – often at cost of the life and limb of the dog – while their owners profit monetarily from dead and injured dogs. A very small percentage of hunters engage in this practice, yet they have huge political influence in Wisconsin.

We appreciate Silent Sports Magazine for doing such a deep dive into this issue, are are encouraging everyone to share this article with your state legislators, urging them to get behind ending this barbaric practice once and for all: https://legis.wisconsin.gov/

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Michael McFadzen, Silent Sports Magazine

The Northern Highlands/American Legion State Forest (NHAL) is truly a remarkable place for recreation. The 232,000-acre NHAL has the highest concentration of lakes in Wisconsin, with hundreds of miles of trails for biking, paddling, skiing, and camping. My wife, Karen, and I were enjoying many of these recreational features during a recent trip to the Wisconsin Northwoods. Following each ride and hike that steamy weekend, we rewarded ourselves with a dive into the warm waters of Muskie Lake.

Early one morning we were awakened by dogs which bellowed for over an hour. Although we thought it odd, eventually it stopped and we didn’t think much about it. Shortly afterward, I did a solo MTB ride on a nearby two-track while Karen went on a successful blackberry picking foray. Not far from our campsite, I came across three people who had a pickup truck modified with kennels aboard. The people were friendly enough and a woman told me they had lost a dog, which her husband was searching for. By the looks of things, and what she said, I realized the group was bear hunt training.

Hunting Bear and Wolf

Using dogs for bear and wolf hunting is a fringe sport not only extremely unpopular among the general public, but also something many sportsmen abhor. This type of hunt usually involves setting up bait piles that attract bears and wolves. Baiting starts weeks or months before the official hunting season. An estimated 12,000 to 14,000 dogs are let loose every day in Wisconsin to “train” starting July 1^st, with the bear hunt season held September 8^th through October 12^th. According to the 2014 Bear Hunter Survey, approximately 50 percent of license holders train their dogs on bear moms and cubs 3 to 4 times during the training season.  Also, approximately 6 to 8 million gallons of bait are dumped on the Wisconsin hunting landscape at several thousand bait sites, which include state lands. It might be hard to believe, but Wisconsin has 37 captive dog training facilities where dogs are trained on coyotes, foxes, raccoons, and other animals. These sessions have resulted in injured animals, according to Melissa Smith of Great Lakes Wildlife Alliance (GLWA).

Once the season opens, hunters release their GPS-collared dogs near the bait piles hoping to kill treed bears or cornered wolves. It is a particularly cruel and dangerous practice to dogs and many forest animals. Imagine several dogs running wild, chasing bears and disrupting other wildlife. Every year, dogs, bears and wolves are killed during this so-called sport. Wolves will defend baiting areas, which in turn leads to deadly confrontations. Dog depredations by wolves occur regularly as GPS-collared dogs run miles from their tracking owners, according to Smith. In 2021, 86 percent of harvested wolves were taken by such dog hunters, who also run their dogs on wolves and coyotes.

Well-known author and animal behaviorist Patricia McConnell knows that hunting wolves, bear, and other large predators with free-running packs of hounds is dangerous. “Two veterinarians in northern Wisconsin have told me they see over 80 to 100 injured dogs a year” McConnell said. “Bear hunters insist that they be compensated if their dogs are injured, yet they also demand that they be allowed to use dogs. Training dogs to focus on the particular scent of one species involves practices that would turn people’s stomach if they knew about them. Just go to the DNR site and look at the regulations for training hounds. As a zoologist who has no problem with responsible hunting, having raised vulnerable lambs for years in areas with a high density of predatory animals, I am well aware of the dangers of predators on livestock. There are many carefully studied ways to hunt that don’t involve chasing animals into exhaustion with free-running packs of hounds who can be swapped out whenever they are tired.”

Wisconsin Hunters Compensation Program

In one of the arguably most bizarre DNR practices, hunters are compensated for their killed and injured dogs. A hunter can receive up to $2,500 per dog.

Is this not state-sanctioned cruelty, creating the disposable dog? In 2020 alone, 29 dogs were killed during these hunts. Over $80,000 dollars was paid to hunters for dogs killed or maimed by wolves, according to Wildlife Damage Specialist Brad Koele. “Over one million dollars has been paid out for dog predation through the life of the program, which started in 1985,” Koele said. “Each episode has to be verified by federal authorities within USDA. This information is available via the DNR website, including an interactive map showing where depredations occur.” According to Koele, no other Midwest state has a similar compensation program.

Repeat Customers Getting Your Dollars

This DNR program has approved more than $80,000 in payments to repeat claimants, those who put dogs in successive situations where they were killed by wolves, according to the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism. This source also says the following: that several individuals have claimed this bounty two or more times; many of the payouts go to people from other states; the leading recipient is an out-of-state resident, Marne Gall of St. Pierz, Minnesota, who received a total of $10,586 for three claims involving four dogs.

For many years, money for these payments came from the state’s Endangered Resources Fund. Many people supported the program by buying endangered species license plates, having no idea their contributions were funding this bizarre hunting scheme. Since 2012, these payments have come from the state’s wolf hunt application and license fees.

The Wisconsin Bear Hunters Association has been able to maintain these hunts through campaign contributions and lobbying. They donated over $370,000 in recent years, receiving their lobbying advice from former Republican senator Bob Welch, who famously termed the “Connecticut effect” in regards to the gun rights backlash following the massacre of 26 children and teachers in Newtown, Connecticut.

A Witnessed Example

Knowing there was a lost dog in this huge expanse of land, I continued my ride deep into the forest. Eventually I met up with the husband of the woman I had talked with. He was using other dogs, all GPS-collared, to lure the missing dog. I startled him as I rode up from behind, asking if he found the lost dog. He said, pointing the dog out, “Yes. Got him right here.”

In the dog’s left leg, a deep and bloody gash.

I asked if the dog was going to be okay. “He’ll be fine,” the man said. “I’ll just patch it up. He probably caught it on some brush. The stupid bear wouldn’t go up the tree so my dog just kept on following him.”

The bear was stupid for refusing to get itself treed?

By the looks of things, with my medical work and experiences, I suspected a cornered bear caused the laceration. The flesh was torn completely through with muscle showing. Steamed, trying to keep composed, I could only utter, “I’m not a fan of hunting bears with dogs and we don’t like it around here.”

The hunter replied, “Yeah, I know it’s controversial.”

More Bad Damage

Several years ago, while hiking in Michigan’s UP, I saw a pack of dogs coming near me during bear season. A nearby pickup truck modified with kennels aboard had Ohio plates. At the trailhead, a local woman complained that hunters get dogs from humane societies and let them loose to run bears. During the training and hunting seasons, dogs chase bears off public lands onto private lands, irking property owners. According to Smith, there have been over 700 complaints registered about this practice.

Wisconsin is the only state in the country, and one of the few places in the world, where hunting wolves with dogs is allowed. Canine-against-canine fighting is particularly heinous and often results in injuries to both animals. “Borat and wolf hunting is something Wisconsin has in common with Kazakhstan,” Smith said with disgust. “Dogfighting is supposed to be illegal, but during these hunts, canine-to-canine fighting occurs.”

Since this original interview, Smith reported to Silent Sports that legislation passed exempting domesticated hounds and all wildlife from animal anti-cruelty laws. (Substitute amendment SSA1 brought forth by Senator Wanggaard just one day before a vote on SB 366, a bill originally written to protect companion animals.) Smith questioned, “Why do you need a bill exempting these animals from cruelty if you’re not being cruel to them?”

There are several organizations that support ethical hunting. Check out Melissa Smith’s GLWA website, where hunters, silent sport types, farmers, animal welfare advocates, business owners, and diverse citizens are moving wildlife management towards an ethical, science-based vision that values all life. GLWA and other organizations recently filed suit to stop the Wisconsin wolf hunting and trapping season slated to begin November 6^th. 

Original publication of this article can be found at Silent Sports Magazine.