Suit targets California hunting rules that allow GPS on dogs

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Associated Press

Updated 5:44 pm CDT, Tuesday, September 10, 2019



Photo: Saul Young, AP
FILE - In this Dec. 8, 2011 file photo, Harriman, Tenn., resident Shannon Robinson shows the map displayed on his GPS device that tracks the location of his hunting dogs. Animal rights groups are suing California over rules that allow animals to be hunted with the aid of hunting dogs wearing GPS tracking devices on their collars. The Animal Legal Defense Fund says the hunting method is "cruel and unfair." The group says tracking devices allow dogs to chase prey to the point of exhaustion. Then hunters follow the GPS to find an animal that is easily shot. The lawsuit targets the Fish and Game Commission, which didn't immediately respond to requests for comment. (Saul Young/News Sentinel via AP)

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Animal rights groups are suing California over rules that allow animals to be hunted with the aid of hunting dogs wearing GPS tracking devices on their collars.

The Animal Legal Defense Fund, which filed the lawsuit last week in Sacramento Superior Court, called the hunting method "unusually cruel and unfair." Tracking devices allow dogs to chase prey to the point of exhaustion, and then hunters follow the GPS signal to find an animal that can no longer flee and is easily shot, the group said.

The lawsuit was joined by the Public Interest Coalition and Friends of Animals. It targets the California Fish and Game Commission, which didn't immediately respond to requests for comment.

The lawsuit says the commission violated state environmental law by failing to conduct an assessment of how the use would affect wildlife, Animal Legal Defense Fund attorney Alexandra Monson said Tuesday.


Read more: https://www.chron.com/news/us/article/Suit-targets-California-hunting-rules-that-allow-14429091.php

[cstanleytech]

1. Its one thing to use a dog to flush the game its another to use them to run the quarry to death

simply because the supposed hunter sucks and or is to damn lazy.

[NickB79]

2. Sounds like a good way to find lost dogs

Most hunting dogs are bird dogs, flushing pheasants and quail from tall grass or retrieving ducks from marshlands.

[Igel]

3. Is it really a way of banning something they don't like

because it's sometimes used in inappropriate ways?

Or is it primarily used in inappropriate ways?

Are we saying, "This is mostly used badly, so we want to ban the few appropriate uses in order to stop a widespread evil?" That I could get behind: There's a serious problem that justifies imposing on others and stopping them from doing something that's fine in order to stop a widespread bad thing.

Do we let the imperfect dispose of something perfectly good in the name of being perfect? Because, well, we must simply make sure that others come up to our august standard. Even if the practice as used for the most part is good, we must strive to ensure that nobody anywhere ever does anything wrong. This I can't get behind because it's basically saying, "I'm in charge of making sure others are as perfect as me." This presupposes common values.

Or is it letting the occasional imperfect use dispose of something perfectly good because we morally disapprove of what others are doing and using our "morality" as a cudgel to beat others into imposing our views as to what's right and wrong. This is a kind of (sub)cultural imperialism and forced assimilation. Not only can I not get behind it, I find it little different from groups that insist that others not engage in abortion or LGBTQ+ practices or anything else that there's some cultural variance on. It's preachy and manipulative.

[2naSalit]

4. No such thing as "fair chase" so I don't want to

ever hear another hunter who uses devices other than compass and weapon for hunting to ever make that whiny claim.

Hunting is a promotion of killing and all the arguments for continuing the practice include some bullshit regarding the idea of fair chase. Unless the animals hunted are allowed to return fire and kill some hunters, it's not fair chase.

[Coventina]

5. If you're using dogs to run your game to the ground. you're no kind of hunter.

You're a cruel, lazy, good for nothing ass.

Yes, by all means ban this practice!

[Drahthaardogs]

6. For fucks sake

I use them on my pointing dogs because if the dog is frozen on point in five feet tall grass it allows you to find them. Some people have too damned much time on their hands

[NotHardly]

7. I hunt, & you know, if you cannot hunt w/o a GPS you do not belong in the field, period.

[MicaelS]

8. So should sonar and fish finders be banned? n/t

[mr_lebowski]

9. Not a hunter, nor a big hunting fan ... though I support the right to do it if well-managed

I am curious ... WHAT animals are supposedly being chased by 'hunting dogs' to exhaustion? My understanding of what hunting dogs are trained for ... is nothing of this kind.

And how common is this to do?

[Liberty Belle]

10. Wild pigs are chased with dogs, and often kill the dogs

from what I've hard. I don't know what else.

[NickB79]

11. Wild hogs are a destructive invasive species

I'm having trouble sympathizing with their plight, seeing the damage they cause to native habitats.

[Coventina]

14. I can both feel sorry for the hogs and care for the environment.

This is a human-caused problem.

It's not as if the hogs are like, "Muahhahaha! I'm ruining the habitat!"

Maybe lethal action is the only solution, but I can still feel sympathy for the hogs. And, I'd be willing to bet absolutely EVERYTHING I own that humans have caused far more habitat destruction than hogs ever have or ever will.

[NickB79]

15. No maybe. Lethal action is the only action for wild hogs

Since humans brought them here, they're an extension of our damage. Removing them is correcting that.

[Coventina]

13. What kind of horrible person sends their dog into danger like that?

Now I'd be even more in favor of banning the practice!

[GulfCoast66]

12. They are normally used to find lost dogs.

Not give hunters an edge.

My family still hunts out of blinds for deer but uses dogs for hogs. GPS collars have made finding dogs so much easier. It never a problem finding the dogs when they have a hog bayed up, as their barking tells their location. But a lost dog pre-gps was a big worry.

And even those who use dogs for deer the goal is not to have the dogs actually catch and kill the deer. They don’t even want the deer running all that much, just moving. Which is why it is almost always beagles and Walker Hounds(small breeds) that can never actually catch or harm the animal. We stopped dog hunting 40 years ago as the area became more densely populated. Dog hunters are now, in my area, seen as inconsiderate hunters. And we rarely see any.

These are people who just don’t like hunting and are making a mountain out of a molehill.

[Skittles]

16. gun humping cowards

fuck them all

[Raine]

17. Disgusting!