Some proponents of AB 2110 paint a picture that’s very different from the reality. They talk about us “training” our hounds to not just chase hares but to maul them. They describe field trials as if dogs take jackrabbits not in cold, wet fields on miles-long, brutally hard hikes over plowed furrows as hard as concrete, but in some sort of gladiatorial arena with spectators and wagering. They call hunting with hounds a “blood sport” and imply it’s an underground activity like dog or cock fighting. And they’re thus able to frame this debate as being about animal cruelty, when in fact, this is about hunting.
So let’s try a reality check. It’s both impossible and unnecessary for hunters to “train” sighthounds to chase hares, and no hunter trains or wants them to rip hares to shreds. In addition to the very natural respect all good hunters have for prey animals, that isn’t something you want to happen to your dinner. And field coursing is regulated by the California Department of Fish and Game just like all other forms of hunting, hunting license and all.
Competitive field coursing is not some kind of underground blood sport, but is exactly like hunting tests and trials for Retrievers, designed for the sole purpose of improving the breeds and preserving their abilities and skills.
Do prey animals die in field coursing? Yes, they sometimes do. If, after what can be hours of hard hiking, a jackrabbit is sighted by the hounds, one, two, or three of them are released to pursue it, usually for about a minute, often much less, and rarely for as long as three minutes. The jackrabbit (which is a hare, not a rabbit) is never brought to the area nor released from a cage, but hunted in its own natural environment, an area in which it has lived its entire life and that it knows well. For that reason, as well as its amazing speed, the jackrabbit usually escapes. When it doesn’t, it is almost always quickly dispatched with a single shake of the hound’s head. Anything else is the rarest of exceptions to the rule.
If that bothers you, consider this: The jackrabbit is a designated pest species in the state of California, routinely – and legally - poisoned and otherwise killed by farmers and ranchers. And if you eat commercially raised meats, the jackrabbit that dies in the jaws of a hound lives a better life and has a better death than the cow who died for that fast food burger you’re eating, or your leather shoes.
Field coursing is not a blood sport. It is hunting. If you have a problem with hunting, then let’s have that debate, openly and honestly, without loaded language and without lies. But realize that there is no hunter, no open field courser, no houndsperson, advocating training dogs to harass wildlife. This false argument is simply the sharp point of the wedge whose broad end is the eradication of all forms of hunting.