Bill Seeks to Ban Dogs in Pursuit of Bears

A bill that would prohibit hunters from using dogs to chase black bears up trees where they can be shot was introduced Tuesday in the state Assembly.

The proposal by Assemblyman Paul Koretz (D-Los Angeles) would also make it illegal for hunters to use dogs to pursue any fur-bearing mammal, including bobcats, raccoons and foxes.

A similar bill failed in the early 1990s.

The latest effort is being pushed by several animal rights groups, including the Humane Society and the Animal Protection Institute.

“Shooting a bear out of a tree is the moral and sporting equivalent of shooting an animal in a cage at a zoo,” said Wayne Pacelle, a Humane Society senior vice president. “It violates any sense of fair chase.”

Owners of hunting dogs called the bill misguided.

“If you use the dogs, you don’t have to kill the bear and you can still have a successful hunt” by treeing the bear, said Larry Hartman, of Redding.

In California, hunters are permitted to release dogs outfitted with radio transmitter collars to find and tree bears during the three-month fall hunting season.

About half the bears killed during the 2001 hunting season were pursued with dogs, according to the California Department of Fish and Game.

Hunters have defended the practice as humane, because it gives them a clean “kill” shot from close range. This is preferable, they said, to wounding a bear from long range and having to chase it through the woods, where it may never be found.

The use of hounds to hunt black bears is prohibited in Colorado, Oregon, Washington and Montana.

In California, some officials with the Department of Fish and Game say that unscrupulous hunters often use hounds to chase bears out of season.

In late January, Fish and Game officers arrested 11 men for allegedly using dogs to poach bears out of season in the Sequoia National Forest in the southern Sierra Nevada. Officers have said they believe the suspects may have killed hundreds of bears over the years.

Although some members of Fish and Game’s anti-poaching unit have said the state’s laws regulating hounds are lax, the department still does not support the proposed ban.

“The department thinks that hunting and dogs are inseparable. Dogs have been part of hunting forever,” said Fish and Game spokesman Steve Martarano.

Teresa Stark, chief of staff for Assemblyman Koretz, said the ban would help Fish and Game protect the state’s wildlife.

“We fail to see the sport in this type of hunting and think it’s barbaric,” Stark said.