November 2, 2009
A Dog's Life: Hunting Hounds
Treated as little more than equipment
Although some hunting dogs are bred and trained to hunt a specific species and may cost upwards of $10,000, most deer dogs are seen as "junk dogs" by the hunters. Because deer dogs are not worth much to hunters they are often viewed as disposable.
Many hound hunters do not bother to properly feed or care for their dogs.
If a dog fails to hunt well, or becomes old, sick or injured, veterinary care is deemed too costly and because of this, dogs are routinely abandoned or shot. We have received multiple reports of mass graves of hunting dogs, shot and thrown into a pile when they outlived their usefulness.
One of our members reported a hunter in Virginia who "shoots the dogs that don't perform; he shot one of his dogs in the woods and the dog dragged himself home and he had one of his friends take the dog up in the woods and shoot it."
Left To Die
One member, who rescued an abandoned hunting dog, stated that Maggie "was left to die on a busy interstate," and that when she later needed x-rays, the veterinarian said, "'You do know she's been shot.' I replied that I did as there were 2 pellets migrating from her ear and shoulder. He then produced the films and showed me (to my horror) that pellets were throughout her entire body, from skull to tail!"
"Too many to even count."
Abandoned dogs wander for days in search of food, harassing and killing wildlife. Many are struck by cars as they wander through roads. A 2008 study by Virginia Technological Institute revealed that of hunters (but not hound hunters) who are landowners, 66 percent had encountered road-killed hunting dogs.
One of our members wrote to us about a hunting dog who had come into her yard five years ago. "I called the owner and he said 'Aw...she'll be alright. Just leave her.' I told him I would hold her until he picked her up and he never came to get her."
Another member stated that hound hunters "dump their dogs...at the end of the hunting season. I've seen this more times than I can count and I can only find homes for so many of the poor creatures."