In Ontario, you can train hunting dogs by letting them chase penned animals. Is that fair?
There are currently 22 training facilities in the province, but that number could soon grow
For the first time in more than 25 years, Ontario is accepting applications from operators who want to create new fenced-in training facilities stocked with coyotes, foxes, rabbits and hares — specifically designed to teach dogs to pursue live animals and also to host competitions.
"[The dogs] have a nose — they find the game, they flush the game and they keep the game moving," said hunter Ron Lounsbury, 80, who lives on a farm outside Brantford, and has been breeding and raising Trigg Foxhounds, a hound dog breed, for more than half his life.
He calls them his babies.
You don't need living beings to be bait for this kind of training.- Lesley Sampson, Coyote Watch Canada
Lounsbury currently has 30 of his own dogs and regularly brings them to a training facility near Smiths Falls.
"It's a big, rugged, well-maintained, well-kept pen. The game's in great shape," he said.
In Ontario, it's still legal for hunters to train their dogs in these wildlife pens, but they've become increasingly controversial. Firearms are not permitted inside the facility.
"Contact between sporting dogs and wildlife is actively avoided and strict protections are in place to maintain safety," Lounsbury said.
Applications for new pens open
In 1997, Mike Harris, then the Ontario Conservative premier, began phasing out "train and trial areas." The province stopped licensing new pens and didn't allow existing ones to be transferred to anyone else.
At the time, there were 60 facilities in Ontario. Today there are 22, according to the province, but that could soon change now that Ontario is accepting applications for new pens until Dec. 29. Non-residents can also apply.
People say it's a pen, a confined area — but it's a huge area. You don't know you're in a pen.- Ron Lounsbury, hunter
"Train and trial facilities prepare sporting dogs and their handlers for animal tracking and competitions while ensuring a safe environment that protects both dogs and wildlife from public areas," said Melissa Candelaria, senior communications adviser for Ontario's Ministry of Natural Resources.
The number of licences the province grants will depend on how much interest there is, she said.
"I think it's a good idea," said Lounsbury. "It's governed, it's controlled. They protect the game. The people who own them and run them are dedicated people and they work very hard at what they do."
Facility operators must meet certain provincial standards before they can open. For instance, facilities housing coyotes must have a pen of at least 80 hectares for training purposes and 160 hectares if the pen is used to host competitions, which involve judges awards points to dogs for their ability to track and flush out animals.
"People say it's a pen, a confined area — but it's a huge area. You don't know you're in a pen," said Lounsbury.
The rules also lay out how many refuge areas must be included in each pen, including culverts, dens and brush piles; when dogs are allowed in the pen (only during months when there's sufficient foliage cover, for example), and how many dogs are allowed in each fenced-in area at once (it depends on the size of the pen and the prey, but dozens of dogs can be inside simultaneously).
Pens 'sickening,' 'barbaric,' say animal rights groups
"We are dead against it," said Lesley Sampson, executive director of the animal advocacy group Coyote Watch Canada. "We know what happens within the captive fenced-in areas."
Sampson said the coyotes are forced to run for hours at a time and are often injured or even killed by the dogs.
"The government has completely ignored what Ontarians want and don't want," she said. "They have basically bent to a small extremist group of individuals that want to have access to these really sickening, barbaric ways of making money. "
According to the province, operators can source wildlife by purchasing animals from licensed trappers. They can also be bred in captivity.
"It's wildlife trafficking in Ontario," said Sampson.
There are other ways to train a hunting dog, she said.
"You don't need living beings to be bait for this kind of training," she said. "There's lots of ways to train animals, but it's not as exciting for the dog handlers and the money that they're making."
Sampson also worries the province doesn't have the means to ensure the operators are following all the rules.
"What they have in there — it all looks fancy on paper, but to actually enforce all of this, there's not enough conservation officers."
Lounsbury admits there are some unethical hunters out there, but he doesn't support them — and he said the pen operators want nothing more than to protect the wildlife inside its fences.
"For the guy that owns the facility, the most expensive thing for him is his game," he said. "The last thing he wants is it killed."
Concerns over spreading disease
When dogs interact with coyotes, foxes and other wildlife inside a fenced area, there are other things to consider.
The coyotes may be carrying tapeworms such as Echinococcus multilocularis, said Jan Hajek, infectious diseases doctor at Vancouver General Hospital.
"Coyotes can defecate and when the animals are chasing them, they can come in contact with the defecation," he said.
The dog might pick up the tapeworm as a result.
"That dog could transmit that parasite from their stool to other humans, other dogs, other environments," warned Hajek.
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