Hound hunters in Arizona have been embroiled in a fight to continue their age old tradition. Now, they have notched up another victory in this ongoing war.
The Center for Biological Diversity filed a petition earlier this year with the Arizona Game and Fish Department (AZGFD) Commission to prohibit the use of dogs while hunting mountain lions, black bears and other wildlife. The petition was a follow-up effort after the same anti-hunting organizations failed to get mountain lion hunting outlawed through a 2024 Colorado ballot initiative.
The AZGFD Commission considered the petition on April 11 at a meeting attended by far more anti-hunters than those supporting hunting with hounds. However, a report to the commission prepared by four AZGFD biologists proved to be convincing enough that the commission denied the petition, leaving hound hunting legal for the moment.
The report pointed out that the main reasons behind a ban were emotion, and lacked any sort of scientific backing. To the contrary, authors of the study pointed out that hunters using dogs can be far more selective about the animals they take, which is a benefit in managing the species.
For more on this story, check out the original reporting by Mark Chestnut over on nrahlf.org.
