Coyote Hounding
COYOTE HOUNDING IS LEGALIZED DOG FIGHTING. PHOTO PUBLISHED ON FACEBOOK BY VERMONT COYOTE HOUNDER
Coyotes may be hunted 365 days a year, day and night. Puppies are orphaned each year when their parent(s) are killed. Hunters aim to eradicate local coyote populations with the aid of electronic game calling devices, assault rifles with thermal imaging scopes, and bait. One Vermont coyote hounder joked about shooting coyotes off a bait pile from his window. Coyotes have virtually zero protections in the state of Vermont.
WHAT YOU CAN DO
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Share this information with your legislators found here and other elected officials and ask them if they will sponsor legislation to ban hounding.
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Share this information with your neighbors, friends, and family and ask them to join our efforts to ban hounding.
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Post your land, so if hounds do trespass, you can contact the warden and have the hounds removed. Take photos and videos and submit to us.
Coyotes have virtually zero protections in the state of Vermont.
Coyotes are also hunted with hounds. This activity most frequently occurs in the winter months when hunters have nothing else to kill. Coyote hounding is legalized dog fighting where packs of powerful, radio collared hounds are unleashed upon a lone coyote who is chased for miles all in the name of "recreation." The hounds are relentless; they injure, maul, and brutally kill their prey who is often left defenseless as seen here:
Vermont coyote hounders have shared numerous photos like this depicting their hounds running down an injured coyote to its death. Hounders will take a non-lethal shot at a coyote to make the injured animal easier prey for their hounds – it is a reward for the frenzied hounds to be able to tear into the downed animal. Many coyote hunters use the term “stretching” to describe their hounds' ability to literally bite, attack, and tear apart live prey. It is not a term used disparagingly, rather one used with pride, to describe the hunting ability strived for when training dogs to pursue coyotes.
...in Craftsbury, Vermont [where] a mother and her two young children witnessed hounds running down an injured coyote. The hounds also damaged her greenhouse.
Our evidence of this cruelty committed by hound hunters isn’t the result of painstaking investigations in the field, it’s gathered by simply scrolling through Facebook groups where Vermont coyote hounders proudly share their kills.
The video shown here was shared by Vermont hounders who said their hounds chased the coyote for miles before the exhausted animal sought refuge near a home where it was shot. Hounds frequently chase coyotes onto private property where they are not welcomed, as evidenced here in Craftsbury, Vermont where a mother and her two young children witnessed hounds running down an injured coyote. The hounds also damaged her greenhouse.
This report was compiled by the Vermont Coyote Coexistence Coalition that documents not only the cruel and unethical hunting of coyotes with hounds, but also the complete disregard and disrespect shown towards coyotes in general. All of the evidence collected is from Vermont. {Warning: it is graphic.}