Hunting Dog Left for Dead in a Ditch

While heading out to pick up and transport animals belonging to low-income residents for spay-and-neuter surgeries at one of PETA’s mobile clinics, a PETA Community Animal Project fieldworker spotted a truck driver attempting to drag something out of a ditch on the side of a busy highway. Our staffer pulled over to make sure that the “something” was not an animal, but to her horror, it was just that—a horribly injured hound dog who was soaking wet, shivering, covered with lacerations, and unable to stand or walk.

The tracking collar around the dog’s neck helped explain how he had wound up wandering along a highway: He had been used for hunting. Hunters rarely treat their dogs any better than the animals they take pleasure in killing. Countless hunting dogs are hit by cars when they cross highways while tracking prey or when they become lost during hunts. Dogs are frequently (and illegally) abandoned at the end of the season or when the dog “won’t hunt.” Many hounds spend most of their lives chained up or confined to pens in all weather extremes, and they are often trained with shock collars, which can cause burns and cardiac fibrillation and turn dogs into confused, fearful, nervous wrecks.

As for this poor, suffering hound, PETA’s fieldworker gently loaded him into her van and quickly rushed him to an animal shelter. The dog was taken to a veterinary clinic right away, where it was determined that he had suffered a broken back and that euthanasia was the most humane option for him.

Hunting hurts not only the animals targeted by this cruel blood sport but also the dogs hunters use as their unwitting pawns. It’s time to stop hunting for trouble.