A dog owner in South Carolina has taken exception to the current state laws surrounding hunting dogs.
Under the law at present, people who abandon or mistreat their animals can find themselves fined. But, these laws don’t apply to hunting dogs. And Nicholas Bruno isn’t happy with that, Live 5 News reports.
He adopted a former hunting dog, Sadie, after she was abandoned twice. When he first adopted her, she was very thin, and her ears were so swollen that she was deaf.
A Lack of Responses
“There’s a lot of good hunters and I’m sure a lot of good hunters that treat their dogs well,” said Bruno. “But there’s an awful lot of them when the dog is no longer useful, or as useful as they think it should be, they simply turn them loose.”
Almost a year ago, he contacted lawmakers about changing the current legislation. But the lieutenant governor replied telling him to contact local senators. He did so, but didn’t get any responses.
Dorchester Paws, a rescue in the Lowcountry, says it takes in 4,000 stray animals each year, and many of these are hounds or hound-Beagle mixes – the dogs commonly used for hunting.
Making Adoption Difficult
“Knowing that animals are property in the state of South Carolina inhibits our mission that we try to instill every day in caring for the abused and neglected and the homeless animals of this county,” explained Danielle Zuck, director of development and marketing at Dorchester Paws.
“The animals are not medically good on the eyes,” Zuck said. “And typical hunting dogs are just left… But in South Carolina, when you have an abundance of the same breed on your floor, they will sit for months on end.”
Suzanne Roman, executive director of Saint Frances Animal Center submitted the following statement in response to the law:
“While many folks do take good, appropriate care of their hounds – many do not – and the shelter ends up caring for many emaciated, injured, and ill hunting hounds each year. Sometimes the cruelty is severe. Giving these animals the protection they deserve is necessary and important.”
And Bruno urges people to contact local representatives. “Let them know that this archaic exclusion needs to be gone,” he finished.
