Wisconsin Humane Society Joins Lawsuit to Protect Wisconsin’

[Carol]

Wisconsin Humane Society Joins Lawsuit to Protect Wisconsin’s Dogs DNR Sued Over Wolf Hunting Rules

MILWAUKEE — The Wisconsin Humane Society (WHS) and other plaintiffs filed a lawsuit Wednesday against the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and the Natural Resources Board (NRB), asking the court to stop the DNR from authorizing the use of dogs for wolf hunting until reasonable rules are established to protect dogs from injury or death. Other plaintiffs include outdoorsmen, hunters, volunteer trackers, and other Wisconsin animal welfare organizations.

“The Wisconsin Humane Society is proud to be a plaintiff in this case, upholding laws that protect dogs from unnecessary suffering, which is central to our mission of building a community where people value animals and treat them with respect and kindness,” said Anne Reed, executive director of WHS. “We are grateful for the opportunity to help bring this matter to the court, and we hope that the rules can be rewritten to provide reasonable protections for dogs used by hunters.”

On April 2, 2012, the Wisconsin Legislature passed a law allowing a wolf hunting season in which dogs could be used to “track or trail” wolves. The law left it up to the DNR and the NRB to write specific rules for a wolf hunting season. Both the DNR and the NRB received scores of letters, emails and testimony submissions from citizens across the state, objecting to the unrestricted use of dogs to hunt wolves.

Nevertheless, according to the plaintiffs, the rules as approved go far beyond allowing dogs for tracking and trailing. “Under the rules as they are now, dogs can be trained and used to hunt wolves in ways, in areas, and at times that place them in jeopardy of dangerous confrontations with wolves, certain to lead to literal fights to the death,” stated Reed.

According to the plaintiffs, the DNR rules lack reasonable restrictions to protect dogs from confrontations, grievous injuries, suffering, and death. The plaintiffs contend that without those restrictions, the rules go well beyond what the legislature authorized in the wolf hunting law, and are likely to lead to violations of Wisconsin laws which prohibit animal fighting.

“Because the DNR and Natural Resources Board approved rules that lack the restrictions needed to avoid irreparable harm and violations of Wisconsin animal cruelty law, plaintiffs found it necessary to seek the assistance of the court to stay the use of dogs in the upcoming wolf hunt,” explains Jodi Habush Sinykin of HS Law, the attorney representing the plaintiffs in the case, together with Robert L. Habush of Habush, Habush & Rottier, S.C., and Carl Sinderbrand of Axley & Brynelson, LLP.

Experts have submitted affidavits that explain the high risk of death and injury that dogs face if used in wolf hunting without appropriate protections. These experts include Richard Thiel, retired DNR wolf manager who served 33 years with the Bureaus of Endangered Resources and Wildlife Management; Patricia McConnell, Ph.D, a nationally-acclaimed expert in canine training and behavior; and UW-Madison Professor Adrian Treves, Ph.D, expert in wolf habitat and behavior.

[Dewey]

I don't know much about hunting with dogs but the idea of using them to hunt wolves does not sound like a good idea to me. With the amount of dogs already being killed by wolves when they invade a wolf territory this could be a bloodbath!

Am I wrong about this? Like I said I know nothing about hunting with dogs so I was hoping those that do could give their opinion and set me straight.

I do think it's ridiculous the Humane Society is getting involved.

[ Post made via iPhone ]

[Carol]

http://www.wisconsinfederatedhs.org/wi-wolf-hunt-updates.html

Wisconsin Wolf Hunt Updates
In short, after a 6 hour hearing, the Wisconsin Natural Resources Board approved the DNR’s proposed emergency rule, as is, regarding the upcoming Wolf Hunting and Trapping season. See "DNR board approves wolf hunt proposal in front of packed audience".

Notably, with respect to the provisions of particular concern to us and others in the animal welfare community, is the authorized use of dogs as a hunting method to hunt wolves and NO regulatory safeguards or reasonable restrictions were included or added to the approved emergency rule to ensure that dogs would not be placed in dangerous proximity to wolves. For instance, no restrictions were added to impose leash or line requirements for dogs used to hunt wolves, nor were there added in any breed restrictions, hunter and dog training requirements, vaccination provisions, or prohibitions of hunting dogs from specific mapped zones known by DNR to be dangerous to dogs especially during volatile times of the year (e.g. mating, breeding, and rendezvous periods; see, e.g., DNR warning pages and mapping at http://dnr.wi.gov/topic/wildlifehabitat ... gdeps.html).

Importantly, the administrative rule approved July 17th was utterly silent on how hunting dogs may be trained to hunt wolves, a significant omission given the 10 months of the year that dogs are allowed to train in Wisconsin. Click here for testimony given by Jodi Habush Sinykin which addresses these concerns.

Attached are also some materials that we feel are of interest;

(1) Testimony of dog expert, Patricia McConnell;

(2) Testimony of wolf behavior expert, Richard Thiel;

(3) Testimony of wolf expert, Adrian Treves;

(4) Jodi Habush Sinykin’s Op Ed published in the Milwaukee JournalSentinel, entitled “DNR’s Wolf Hunting Plan Is Start of a Slippery Slope”

(5) Article published in Wisconsin Outdoor news, entitled "Will Wisconsin's animal cruelty law affect a wolf hunt?"

(6) Letter by Natural Resources Board chairman Dave Clausen addressing veterinarian concerns.

Overall this is a huge concern and we are looking into it further at this time. We feel this is legalized dog fighting and cruelty to animals. This hits at the core of our animal welfare work and we hope things can be changed before this new law goes into effect on September 1st.

[Brad]

I have seen video's of Dogs tracking mountain lions and they sometimes got beat up , it was hard to watch sometimes. Lucky for them the cougar usually climbs the tree although some of the dogs did too. I too think this is not the best thing for the dogs safety, I hate to see good dogs get hurt or killed over something like this, but I am no expert on dogs or wolves so I hate to form an opinion.