U.S. Forest Service, Louisiana Declare "Emergency" to Pander to Hunters

In a move that I haven't yet found a way to make intelligent sense of, the state of Louisiana--upon the U.S. Forest Service's request--declared a "state of emergency" (and no, there's no real emergency) to allow the Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Commission to vote yesterday "to eliminate the need for a special permit to hunt with dogs on Kisatchie National Forest and the requirement that hunters use electronic tracking collars and other forms of identification on their dogs." Even putting aside consideration for the animals intentionally wounded and killed (as everyone involved in this has), this move completely disregards the safety of the dogs exploited and endangered by hunters as well as the other people endangered by hunters.

In Louisiana, hunters barrel recklessly through Kisatchie National Forest to hunt deer, shooting  recklessly as well and not paying much attention to the dogs they're using as hunting tools either, dogs who run off and get lost. And apparently, some landowners have complained (not, it seems, because they're terribly worried about deer or dogs, but because the dogs end up on their property). But the state government (and apparently even the federal government now) has moved to protect hunters' so-called right to do whatever they want, rather than protect animals, public safety, or other non-hunting humans.

Watch how this played out--how the federal and state governments went from moving to limit hunting and promote safety to trying to entrench and protect hunters' practices in law; it's nauseating-fascinating:

February 27, 2009, from an NRA press release:

Kitsatchie National Forest and the state Department of Wildlife and Fisheries are considering closing the national forest to hunting deer with dogs.

Kitsatchie is the only public land area in the state that has allowed hunting deer with dogs for decades. The news release issued by the Forest Service states that they receive numerous complaints about dogs leaving the national forest and entering private lands and private leases. They also point to the behavior of certain hunters involving reckless driving and shooting from and across roads. Changes may also be made to state regulations regarding free-ranging dogs when the hunting season is closed.

June 17, from the Beauregard Daily News:

The efforts of private landowners in Kisatchie National Forest to eliminate dog-deer hunting in the 2009-2010 hunting season took a serious blow last week. A resolution passed through the House of Representatives that gives state and national congress the power to preserve the “decades-old tradition” of using canines to track deer in Louisiana. . . .

Landowners complain that the dogs run onto their private property, that hunters tracking the dogs in trucks drive too recklessly near their homes, and that the shots fired by hunters are often reckless and dangerous.

The U.S. Forest Service and Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries were flirting with the idea of eliminating dog-deer hunting entirely, after cutting the number of days it was allowed in half last year, from 14 to seven.

Louisiana State Representative James Armes (D) authored the resolution that would protect the tradition and it passed unanimously.

The resolution states that “hunters who use dogs to hunt deer feel that they have been singled out as targets to be eliminated in order to allow other activities to continue on the public lands, while it is the responsibility of the Forest Service to determine a management regime that would allow all activities to take place in a manner that would not intrude on each other.”

June 25, from the Leesville Daily Leader:

State Rep. James K. Armes, III, D-Leesville, earlier this month withdrew House Bill 613, which would ensure the continued ability of hunting with dogs on the Kisatchie National Forest, only after receiving assurances from [Louisiana] Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Secretary Robert Barham that the [Lousiana] Department and the Wildlife and Fisheries Commission will work with him to implement the necessary rules to continue the practice. . . .

In May the Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Commission unanimously adopted an amendment allowing eight days of hunting with or without dogs in the Catahoula Ranger District, Winn Ranger District, Kisatchie Ranger District and the Evangeline Unit of the Calcasieu Ranger District within the Kisatchie National Forest.

The amendment requires deer dogs to wear permanently attached identification markings as well as a legible collar tag and electronic tracking collar. The Forest Service would issue permits to hunters prior to the dog deer hunting season which is Dec. 19-24 and Dec. 26-27, 2009.

July 2, from TheTownTalk.com:

The Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Commission, upon request of the U.S. Forest Service, approved a declaration of emergency at its meeting Thursday, July 2, to eliminate the need for a special permit to hunt with dogs on Kisatchie National Forest and the requirement that hunters use electronic tracking collars and other forms of identification on their dogs. . . .

By further action, the commission approved a notice of intent to make permanent the actions taken by declaration of emergency.

July 3, from The [Louisiana] Advocate:

In May, the LWFC ignored U.S. Forest Service demands to stop the practice of hunters using dogs to hunt deer on the 600,000 acres in the Kisatchie National Forest.

The LWFC unanimously supported an eight-day, deer-dog season during the Christmas period for Kisatchie hunters and built in stipulations the USFS issue special permits to deer-dog hunters and the dogs be fitted with special tracking collars or the dogs be marked in some manner so that the dogs’ owners could be identified.

Newly appointed Kisatchie National Forest supervisor Mike Balboni asked the commission to reinstate the same days of the 2008-09 deer-dog season for the 2009-10 season, but asked that permitting and other tracking/identification regulations be omitted from the regulations. Balboni said USFS has no permitting procedures and would violate its regulations by issuing permits.

To change the hunting regulations, the LWFC had to suspend its rules — it took a two-thirds majority vote — and approved a Dec. 19-24 and Dec. 26-27 deer-dog season for all of Kisatchie’s Winn Ranger and Kisatchie Ranger districts and parts of the Catahoula Ranger and the Evangeline Unit of the forest.

Balboni said the USFS plans to hold public meetings to determine its future plans for the use of dogs in the area.

Wow. Let's recap some of the important points here. Apparently, either the U.S. Forest Service was getting ready to order Louisiana to stop allowing the practice, or it had even already ordered Louisiana to stop allowing the practice, according to one of these reports. But then state legislators, agencies, and officials scrambled to get laws and policies in place that would further bolster the violent, unsafe, inhumane "tradition."

And when the U.S. Forest Service caught wind of what was happening in Louisiana, what did it do? You'd expect that maybe it would follow through with its earlier plans and try to stop the hunts altogether. But it didn't. Its supervisor of the national forest at issue merely demanded that the state remove the already-nominal new rules it had added regarding the dogs because the U.S. Forest Service couldn't enforce them. In other words, it returned the situation right back to where it had already been, with the hunters simply more emboldened.

Deer can still be chased down with trucks and dogs. Dogs can still be treated terribly (and discarded and left behind) as hunting tools, with no way to locate them once they're lost or of knowing where they came from when they're found after having been lost or dumped. People's safety in a national forest can still be threatened by reckless fools with guns.

Why? Because this is America. And when the ones in the most danger, the ones being killed or used and abused and discarded, are "just animals," the hunting lobby and people's desire to kill always take priority.

Related posts: "In Memory of April and Friend, Hunting Dogs" and "Hunting in the News: Using Dogs for That Extra Thrill"