Re: Dog Training/Trialing I…

Re: Dog Training/Trialing
I am TOTALLY against the issuance of new licences and the transfer of existing ones for dog train and trial areas. We had the science more than twenty years ago to convince us that this practice was inhumane.

Owners of such facilities will explain they create 'hideaways' for the prey animals ... That does not suffice. In the end the fox, or rabbit, or coyote (or raccoon, or mink, or badger, or some other creature) is trapped, outnumbered and doomed. We are well aware that any of these creatures suffer the same emotions such experiences would generate in ourselves ... or our children.

I live in a rural area in a small community. Hunting is a regular pastime here. Some families get the vast majority of their meat that way. They train their dogs - and learn themselves - on the lands they own. That is a very different situation from the one getting promoted in this law change.

We should not be setting up hunting ranges with closed in prey - like some real-life simulation game. I am not in support of encouraging such 'sport'. This seems akin to dog-fighting arenas, or cock-fighting operations. If someone is interested in having a hunting dog - and an area to hunt in - then let them bear the cost of the land and the responsibility of sustaining the wildlife populations that live there. Do NOT make it easy for them to simply enjoy this activity as 'sport'.