Conservation groups are asking the Arizona Game and Fish Commission to ban the use of dog packs for hunting big game.
In a multi-page petition to the Commission, the five-person rulemaking body for the Arizona Game and Fish Department, conservation groups say packs of dogs are used to hunt big game like mountain lions, bobcats and bears.
Russ McSpadden is Southwest conservation advocate with the Center for Biological Diversity — the group that authored the report. He says hunts are done using a pack of dogs outfitted with GPS collars that allow the hunter to see their location, even miles away.
“And the hunter can track that hunt through his dogs and from a smart device, like an iPhone or an Android, and you can track up to 20 dogs,” he said.
McSpadden says the hunter drives or walks to the location that dogs have stopped, where they find the animal trapped up in a tree, and shoot it. He estimates pack hunting is behind 70% of mountain lion killings each year. His group’s petition argues the practice violates fair chase principles and Arizona statutes against using certain kinds of technology to hunt.
McSpadden says the practice also threatens endangered species. Their report includes a 2011 photo of an ocelot hiding in a tree it’s been chased into by a hunting pack and says the same animal has been chased multiple times throughout its life.
“Dogs do not distinguish between a bobcat and an ocelot, or a mountain lion and a jaguar, so over the years, packs of dogs have chased, harassed and tree-ed at least four jaguars in the Southwest, including the famous jaguar El Jefe,” he said.
Arizona Game and Fish data shows 748 mountain lions and 323 bears were reportedly killed by hunters using dogs packs between 2020 and 2023.
McSpadden’s group is asking Arizona Game and Fish to ban the practice outright for big game like bears and mountain lions, arguing Arizona could lead the way for other states to follow. Killing mountain lions for sport hunting is already illegal in California and dog pack hunting is partially banned in other states.
Michael Colaianni, public affairs director with the Arizona Game and Fish, said the department had received the petition but needed time to review it.
