Hounding Needs to be Banned

Alana Linsay Stevenson, M.S.
Raccoon hounders can run their hounds in the middle of the night during ‘training’ season which started June 1st. Hounders have no control over multiple dogs, running off leash, chasing animals in the dark. The torment of animals by uncontrolled hounds lasts much of the year. Summer is also a time when people, dogs, and other animals are using these woods. Hounds are loud and wake up homeowners who have no control of the dogs or hounders running on their property.

Raccoon, bear, bobcat, and fox cubs are mauled by hounds since they cannot outrun them. The argument that hounds only surround the animal but don’t kill or maul it to death is fictitious and anyone who believes it is naïve.

Mother animals are teaching babies how to hunt, forage, build nests, stay away from humans, and so on, and each year this is interfered with by hounders who terrorize wildlife and property owners for fun. Why? Because they can.

Bill H. 323 to ban bear and coyote hounding will be coming up in 2024. The Senate Committee on Natural Resources catered to the Fish and Wildlife Commissioner on S. 281 to ban coyote hounding with a private meeting that continued to allow hounding of coyotes, but mandated ‘shock’ collars be placed on dogs. News flash: GPS collars for hunting dogs already have a shock option. This accommodation for hounders came after hours of testimony from people who were traumatized and taunted by hounders on their property and from biologists, scientists, and homeowners who explained how hounding was a public safety risk, harmful to wildlife, cruel to animals, and irresponsible.

There has been no justice for the couple and their pup who were attacked in Ripton in 2019 by hounds or for the woman who’s dog was attacked on a walk (revealed upon a public records request). This woman and her dog were chased for miles in Fairlee. Her dog was viciously attacked and seriously injured. The hounder was not fined, nor were there any consequences imposed on him by Fish and Wildlife. In 2019, hounds plowed through posted property of an animal sanctuary. The hounders were out of sight, firing their guns. The animals on this sanctuary subsequently were afraid to leave the barn. There were no consequences for the hounders. The examples go on and on.

Remarkably, attacking people and dogs with hunting hounds is legal in Vermont. There are no rules, so no consequences or repercussions. I’m not sure why dog owners have more requirements placed on them than hounders who intentionally release packs of dogs, off leash, to run after animals. Shock collars do not add to control or legitimize hounding. GPS collars are not control mechanisms.

Hounds are thrown in dog boxes and chained or kenneled 24/7. Instead of addressing responsible or decent treatment of dogs or respect to wild animals who are already subjected to habitat loss, rodenticides, hunting, and car strikes, the Senate Committee on Natural Resources added shock collars to the mix. As if the hounds aren’t abused enough.

Shock collars are illegal in other countries. There are good reasons for this. As a behaviorist who has worked 20 years resolving canine aggression, I can assure you that shock is the last thing to add to multiple dogs in a frenzy with a high prey drive. The logistics of using shock collars with a pack of dogs off-leash makes them unrealistic. Hounders can only use them if they see what their dogs are doing.

Enough. Legislators need to step up to the plate. Homeowners should not pay hundreds of dollars to post their land that hounders can ignore. Dogs should not be abused and used to rip apart wildlife or intentionally released to run off-leash in the middle of the night. Only if Vermonters demand and require action from their legislators will there be change. Regulations need to be enacted and there needs to be consequences for irresponsible, outrageous behavior.

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