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STOP THE CRUELTY

Reasons To Stop

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Photo of a bear resting on a tree with a bear cub playing next to her.

STOP BEAR HUNTING WITH DOGS

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Reasons To Stop

22 REASONS TO STOP

Hunting bears with dogs is cruel and barbaric. Packs of dogs chase, harass, torment, and torture innocent bears for hours or more at a time. A bear’s long-drawn-out suffering is physically and mentally excruciating. Bears deserve better.

#1 Cruelty is NOT Hunting

A photo of a bear resting with its head on its paw. The slide says: Bear hunting with dogs is not a hunting issue, it's a cruelty issue. Bear hunting with dogs must be stopped.

#2 Bears on the Run

Photo of a small bear running through grass. The slide says: Packs of aggressive dogs chase, torment, and terrorize innocent bears for hours and up to even days at a time. The dogs eventually “tree” or corner the exhausted bear. There is no “quick kill” when bear hunting with dogs. For a bear, the fear and suffering seemingly lasts forever.

#3 Pure Brutality

A photo of a sillouette of a bear in a tree. The slide says: Some hunters with hounds (commonly called “houndsmen”) will intentionally wound the treed bear. When the injured bear falls to the ground, the houndsmen encourage their dogs to attack the bear as a “reward” or a “training” exercise.

#4 Bears Suffer

A photo of a bear hugging a tree. The slide says: Bears are driven by fear. Bear hunting with dogs exploits this fact. Have you ever been afraid for your life? Hunting bears with dogs inflicts great mental agony, as well as intense physical suffering upon innocent victims.

#5 Cubs Die

A photo of two bear cubs hanging out together in a tree. The slide says: During the chase, cubs may be separated from their mother. Imagine their terror. The marauding packs of bear-hunting dogs can catch, attack, and kill the defenseless cubs.

#6 Unintended Victims

A photo of a baby dear lying down in some grass and moss. The slide says: The packs of dogs running wild through the woods often chase, assault, and sometimes kill deer, skunks, rabbits, groundhogs, chickens, livestock, family pets and other non-target victims.

#7 Risk to People & Pets

A photo of a blue tent camping amongst some trees in the fall. The slide says: Bear hunting dogs with their pack mentality also pose a significant threat to people, especially outdoor recreationists. In October 2014, a young woman and her two dogs were camping on the Nantahala National Forest when they endured a 45-minute-long, violent attack by bear-hunting dogs. Her two dogs nearly died. The woman suffered numerous bites leaving lasting effects. She ultimately had to undergo rabies shots.

#8 Most the Year

A photo of a momma bear with a bear cub riding on her back. The slide says: Although bear hunting season may last for a specified time, it is important to remember dog training season lasts much longer. That means packs of dogs can be terrorizing bears and other animals for a significant part of the year. In North Carolina, bear hunting dogs can be “trained” for nearly eight months of the year. When do bears ever get a break from the torment and terror?

#9 Prolonged Torment

A photo of a bear peaking its head up through some shrubs. The slide says: Killing bears with dogs is not about hunting. It is about needless suffering and immeasurable cruelty. It is time for a more peaceful coexistence between people and bears. Prolonged terror, fear, and anguish should not be part of the process. If bears must be killed, they should die with as little suffering as possible. We must attain some level of decency and compassion.

#10 Like Us

A photo of a bear leaning up against a tree. The slide says: Bears are intelligent, feeling beings. Every bear is a unique individual. Although bears may look similar, no two are alike. Thus, their lives have value. Mother bears form deep bonds with their cubs as they spend nearly a year and a half living together. And while together, those mothers are infinitely patient, caring, and maternal. Bears experience emotions and feel pain just as we do.

#11 Cruel to Dogs

A photo of a hunting dog. The slide says: Hounds are also innocent victims of the so-called “sport” of bear hunting with dogs. Ask any veterinarian who treats hunting dogs following an encounter with a bear. While trying to sell and trade dogs, some houndsmen brag about their dogs being so good at cornering bears that “they have the scars to prove it.” Bears and dogs are victimized by the practice of bear hunting with dogs.

#12 No Legal Safeguards

A photo of dog's eyes. The slide reads: Humane laws legally protect dogs from abusive owners. These laws do not apply to hunting dogs. Houndsmen can starve, chain, and beat their dogs with no legal peril. Hunters often say they would never do that to their expensive dogs. Yet, dogs who do not perform, often pay a price. Shelters are full of emaciated, injured bear hounds – and those are the lucky ones who lived. Bear hunting dogs need and deserve the protection of humane laws.

#13 Another Atrocity

A photo of a bear using a tree to prop itself up in a standing position. The slide reads: Although no longer legal in North Carolina, bear hunting with dogs gives reason for the old practice of Bear Baying. This involves capturing a young bear, short-chaining it to a stake, and letting the dogs attack the bear as a method for training bear-hunting dogs. Imagine the suffering for such a bear.

#14 Bearing the Burden

A photo of a big bear sitting on the ground next to a tree with a No Hunting sign. The slide says: As the law currently stands, landowners must burden the expense of having a legal right to keep bear hunters from trespassing. The property owner must pay the cost of surveying the land and either placing “No Trespassing” signs every 200 feet completely around the property or paint trees every 100 feet along the entire boundary.

#15 Legal Trespassing

A photo of a black bear sitting in between two trees. The slide says: Unless the property boundaries are marked accordingly, it is perfectly legal for bear hunters and their dogs to cross property lines and hunt on private land without permission. Law enforcement has no legal recourse. As it is now, hunters can follow their dogs willy-nilly and kill on anybody’s land, unless the property owner has spent the time or paid the money to have the land posted.

#16 No Legal Recourse

A photo of a hunting dog's face. The slide says: North Carolina’s dangerous dog law exempts law enforcement from any liability if their police dogs attack somebody. That’s understandable. If a bear hunting dog kills a pet or livestock, or injures a person, the same law protects the hunter from any liability. That’s crazy! If you are attacked by a bear hunting dog, you have no legal recourse.

#17 Special Protection for Hunters

A photo of a couple walking hand in hand down a wooded trail. The slide says: Packs of aggressive bear hunting dogs run wild through forests and fields for up to days at a time, while totally unsupervised. These dogs can certainly pose a significant risk to outdoor recreationists. Why do North Carolina hunters merit special protection from liability for the acts of their dangerous dogs?

#18 Run to Death

A photo of an undernourished bear. The slide says: The continuous running of an undernourished bear by packs of relentless dogs will metabolize a huge number of critical calories. Even if the bear is not killed by a bullet, he or she may ultimately die due to the loss of much needed fat reserves wasted while alluding the hunting dogs.

#19 A Second Chance

A photo of a momma bear without one of her legs climbing over a tree stump with her baby bear. The slide says: Black bears possess an incredible ability to heal from serious injuries. The bear in this photo suffered a horrific leg injury. She lost her leg, recovered, adapted to life on three legs, and has since given birth to three sets of cubs! She would have never survived, if she was chased, tormented, and traumatized by packs of bear hunting dogs.

#20 No Justification

A photo of a momma bear and her three almost grown cubs hanging out together. The slide says: Hunters most often claim the “heritage” excuse as a reason to allow bear hunting with dogs. They romanticize the hounds howling and bear killing as “tradition.” This “culture” defense is most often offered when there is no other justification to continue a barbaric practice.

#21 Dog Versus Bear

Photo of a Momma bear and her four cubs lying down at the base of a tree. The slide says: Roman gladiators, slavery, dog-fighting, and cock-fighting were all defended as culture, tradition, or heritage at one time. However, progressive societies eventually banned these horrific practices. Pitting dogs against bears is simply wrong.

#22 It is Time

Photo of a momma bear and her sleeping cub on the ground at the base of a tree stump. The slide says: For all these reasons and more, it is time to: STOP BEAR HUNTING WITH DOGS.

HORRIFFIC VIDEOS OF BEAR HUNTING WITH DOGS

WARNING:These exceedingly graphic videos reveal malicious attacks on bears with large numbers of dogs for the purpose of training bear hunting dogs. The makers of the videos below offered commercial “year-round hound training.” Some of the dogs were transported more than a thousand miles to states where bear hunting with dogs is legal.

VIDEO ONE

Bear on Back - 11 Seconds

Bear on Back - 11 Seconds

Play Video

This video graphically displays a bear on his/her back in distress as he/she cries and is mauled by a pack of bear hunting dogs. The dogs pull on the bear’s ears simultaneously as other dogs bite the bear. The bear does not fight back nor do any of the hunters stop the dogs. (“Stretching” refers to bears that have been caught on the ground by a pack of dogs. The bear gets stretched as the dogs swarm, attack, bite, and pull at the bear's face, ears, and body.)

VIDEO TWO

This video shows a bear perched and clinging to a tree as a pack of dogs bark below. An individual can be heard beating the tree with a stick. The bear then launches himself from the tree in an attempt to escape. The bear falls to the ground where he is attacked by the pack of hunting dogs.

Bear Launches From Tree - 16 Seconds

Bear Launches From Tree - 16 Seconds

Play Video

VIDEO THREE

Bear Mauled - 7 Seconds

Bear Mauled - 7 Seconds

Play Video

After being forced from the tree, the bear hits the ground where all the dogs are allowed to attack, subjecting the bear to excessive infliction of unnecessary pain and suffering. One hunter posted “He might be sore tomorrow.” The other hunter posted to her Instagram saying, “Had so much fun this weekend.” Agony and terror for the innocent bear translates into “so much fun” for the hunters/dog trainers.

One of these videos was posted on YouTube. It was immediately removed with a note saying something to the effect of, “We do not allow the posting of animal cruelty videos.” What does it say when social media views bear hunting with dogs and training bear hunting dogs as animal cruelty?

VIDEOS

ADDITIONAL INFO

STORIES & REPORTS FROM PEOPLE
JUST LIKE YOU

Click on one of the articles below to read the whole story.

A Lake County, Michigan man's little Chihuahua was attacked and "ripped to pieces" by two bear hunti	Woman and her two dogs attacked by a pack of dogs while camping in the Nantahala National forest.
A Virgina law says hunters are allowed to retrieve dogs even when the property owner has specificall	Beaufort County, NC. Owner requests meeting to consider banning hunting dogs due to inability to pro	Stress affects human beings and it affects bears. Learn more from this article by clicking the image

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