Packs of hunting dogs are set loose on captive wild animals in train and trial compounds.
Ontario’s government wants more of this, not less.
Angry does not begin to describe how we are feeling.
Rabbits, coyotes and foxes are already being captured from the wild, and then released into what’s called train and trial compounds where packs of hunting dogs are set loose to chase, harass, and exhaust them. Wild animals who are vastly outnumbered in these enclosures can even be torn apart by the excited dogs.
Since 1997 the numbers of these ‘train and trial’ facilities have been phasing out. But now Ontario’s government is planning to allow the numbers of these cruel businesses to expand, meaning more wild animals will be made to suffer terribly – all to satisfy the blood-lust of the most extreme sport hunting lobbyists.
With the odds stacked against them, the prey animals will experience distress, terror, and even painful deaths.
We know that the animals are hurt, mutilated and even killed, but we do not know how often. We know this because there are provisions in the regulations addressing injured animals. But because of the degree of secrecy, we have had to submit a Freedom of Information request to try to piece together what actually happens to the animals in these facilities.
Coyotes are the most persecuted of all four of the animals used in these compounds. In Ontario, coyotes can be hunted 365 days a year and there is no limit on the number of coyotes that can be killed.
Hares and cottontails cannot defend themselves except by escape and surely face certain cruel death in these fenced-in pens. Foxes are also vulnerable because of their size. Fur-farmed foxes are particularly vulnerable because they have spent their lives confined to small cages.
Your voice is urgently needed.
The rabbits, foxes, and coyotes need you to act now.
Call or email Premier Doug Ford today.
Tell the Premier that you:
- Strongly oppose the establishment of more dog train
areas, - Want the government to amend the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Act to ban the use of wild animals in the existing compounds, and the use of hounds to chase and attack coyotes on the landscape, and
- Remind our political leaders that they represent all Ontarians, not just hunting lobbyists.
Contact Premier Doug Ford:
Email: premier@ontario.ca
Phone: 416-325-1941
TTY/Teletypewriter: 1-800-387-5559
(for the Deaf and hard of hearing)
Background:
Wild animals (rabbits, foxes and coyotes) are captured from the wild, and then released into fenced enclosures. Foxes can also be legally acquired from fur farms.
Packs of hunting dogs are then released into the fenced areas so they can chase, harass, catch, and even kill the wild animals. This is done to train the dogs to be more efficient hunters and killers of wild animals.
The prey animals are vastly outnumbered.
Up to 50 dogs can be set loose on just one hare, cottontail or red fox.
Up to 66 dogs can be set loose on just one coyote.
People can watch and take pleasure in the suffering. Some call this sadism ‘sport.’
Sadly, such ‘train and trial compounds’ already exist but have significantly declined in number since 1997 due to the strong opposition of groups including Animal Alliance of Canada and Zoocheck. The Ontario government under Premier Mike Harris agreed to phase out these abominations. Existing training pens were allowed to continue but no new ones could be opened, with the intention that the cruel practice would end through attrition.
But now, another Progressive Conservative Premier seems willing to cave in to the demands of the most extreme hunting lobbyists. The Doug Ford government intends to amend the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Act to grant new licenses for new businesses, and allow the transfer of licenses, thus expanding these facilities instead of phasing them out.
A more humane compromise exists:
The Premier has a way to solve this issue that will allow those who want to train and exercise their dogs, a way to do so safely and more humanely. The facilities could offer a train and trial experience through the use of “scent trails” for the dogs to follow. Coyotes, foxes and rabbits would no longer face the cruelty of being used as live bait.
Of course, we disagree with the entire concept of sport hunting and the use of dogs to track, harass and kill wild animals. But in this imperfect world, training dogs without the use of live animals as bait would eliminate at least one form of cruelty.
We further urge the Ford government to ban altogether the use of hunting dogs to chase, harass, injure and kill Ontario’s wild animals. We will not give up on this bigger fight and hope that you will stand with us, and with the animals.
The coyotes, foxes, and rabbits need us to take this fight directly to Premier Ford.
Please. Act now.
It will take just a few minutes of your time to email a short message, or phone the Premier’s office.
Let’s fill Doug Ford’s inbox and voicemail and remind him that he represents all Ontarians, and not just the small minority of citizens who hunt.
To learn more about this issue, visit our website:
https://www.animalalliance.ca/training-and-trialing-compounds/
Here is a link to the existing regulations covering train and trial compounds: https://www.ontario.ca/laws/regulation/980668#BK3
