Assembly approves bill to end unsporting practice of hunting bears, bobcats with packs of dogs
Sen. Ted W. Lieu measure returns to Senate for concurrence
SACRAMENTO – The California Assembly today promised new protections for animals by banning hunters from using packs of dogs to pursue bears and bobcats.
Senate Bill 1221 now returns to the Senate for concurrence on amendments.
“There is nothing sporting in slaughtering an exhausted bear clinging to a tree limb or shooting a cornered bobcat,” Sen. Ted Lieu of Torrance said after the bipartisan vote. “Hound hunting of bears is illegal in two-thirds of the United States; the time has come for California to abolish this inhumane and unnecessary practice.
“Californians have been clear with their legislators at each vote that hounding is a cruel practice with no place in our state,” Lieu added. “I urge my colleagues in the Senate to approve the changes quickly and get this legislation to the governor.”
Hound hunters use packs of dogs, often equipped with radio collars, to chase bobcats and bears to exhaustion. In their attempt to escape, the bear or bobcat often takes refuge in a tree, allowing a hunter to simply track the dogs’ radio collar signal, take aim and shoot the animal.
In addition, the dogs used for this type of hunting are sometimes treated inhumanely, some abandoned in the field, and others suffer abuse from neglect. Other wildlife are often harassed, disturbed or physically harmed during hounding pursuits as well.
Sponsored by The Humane Society of The United States and co-authored by Senate President Darrell Steinberg, SB 1221 would expressly prohibit the use of dogs to pursue any bear or bobcat. The bill would not affect the use of dogs by bird hunters. Many other major bear-hunting states, including Arkansas, Colorado, Montana, Oklahoma, Oregon, Washington and Wyoming, do not permit hunting bears with hounds.
If the Senate approves SB 1221, which it did when it approved an earlier version last May, it would then go to governor, who has not taken a position on the bill. No date for the Senate vote has been set but session is scheduled to adjourn for the year on Aug. 31.
For more, including a Fact Sheet, visit Lieu’s Web site at the address below.
Ted W. Lieu chairs the Senate Labor Committee and represents nearly 1 million residents of Senate District 28, which includes the cities of Carson, El Segundo, Hermosa Beach, Lomita, Manhattan Beach, Redondo Beach and Torrance, as well as portions of Long Beach, Los Angeles and San Pedro. For more, visit www.senate.ca.gov/lieu
PHOTO CAPTION: Consultant Theo Cline, left, and Sen. Ted Lieu, sponsor of SB 1221, with Cline's coonhound, Henry, during a recent rally.
