Tomorrow in WI Dogs get to help hunt wolves

Tomorrow in Wisconsin Dogs get to help hunt wolves

By Ralph Maughan On December 1, 2013

Will it be h0 hum or a blood bath?

In Wisconsin’s continuing wolf hunt which has felled wolves at a surprisingly rapid pace, now dogs will be added to mix. Wisconsin’s wolf hunt is supposed to end when 251 wolves out of the estimated 800 in the state have been killed. So far about 215 wolves have been recorded as legally killed.
There has been a long legal and public opinion battle on this new hunting technique, but tomorrow, Dec. 2, dogs will be allowed to chase wolves in part of Wisconsin. The official line is that the dogs and the wolves are not supposed to fight it out, but rather the dogs will chase the wolves into the open where the wolves can be more easily shot.

No states currently allow dogs to directly attack wildlife and this is said to be no exception, although it is clear that in fact in states that use dogs to hunt bears, cougar, and bobcats, that the dogs (hounds) do sometimes attack their quarry, and sometimes the cougar or bear fights back injuring or killing the dogs. Note: this paragraph is in error. A number of states do allow use of domestic animals to kill or help kill wildlife (beyond the traditional retriever and bird hunting). 

Dogs and wolves are natural enemies. Since the recovery of wolves began in the Great Lakes and the Northern Rocky Mountain states there have been many incidents of wolf packs killing hounds that were tracking bears and cougar. Most incidents where people have claimed to have been threatened by wild wolves in these states have turned out to involve a dog as well, the dog being the likely reason for the close approach of the wolf.

Can dogs turn the tables on the wolves now? Over the centuries in other countries a number of wolf hounds (dogs that chase and maybe fight wolves) have been bred. Up until wolves were all but extirpated in the lower 48 states, there was some wolf hunting with dogs, including in Wisconsin.

It will be a “no no” under the Wisconsin law if the wolf or wolves don’t run and turn on the dogs, but it is not hard to see a lot people will be cheering for the wolves and others for the dogs.

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