Hunting Dogs – Victims of Recreational Hunting
The gulf between the romanticised image («the hunting dog as a loyal hunting companion») and the reality of some training methods and dog-keeping practices among hobby hunters is precisely what triggers social conflict.
When shots ring out, hunting horns sound and dogs bark in frenzied pursuit, a state of exception prevails: the entire wildlife is thrown into fear and terror.
For wild animals, recreational hunting often means a torturous death. Shot animals drag themselves frantically through the forest while hunting dogs pursue them or even tear chunks of flesh from their bodies while they are still alive.
Yet hunting dogs themselves are also victims of this tradition. Many of them spend their lives confined to kennels, on balconies or even in basements, without species-appropriate exercise, without any family connection. Their only «change of scenery»: recreational hunting. There they must push through thorns and undergrowth, into cold water or on to bloody tracking searches. More than a few are injured, some disappear without a trace or die.
In training, harshness rather than care is often the rule. Kicking, ear-pulling or the use of pain are not only cruel but are prohibited under the Animal Protection Act. Nevertheless, hunting dogs in many places are «shaped» through force, entirely in keeping with a tradition that regards them as purely working dogs whose value is measured solely by their performance.
The reality is brutal: where so-called «consistency» and «discipline» are demanded, sentient beings suffer under a system that trivialises violence and animal suffering accepts as an acceptable cost.
Recreational hunting is not a romantic custom – it is a war against wild animals and cruelty to dogs.
Dossier: Hunting and Animal Welfare
