End hound hunting in Arizona to protect wildlife.

Hound Hunting in Arizona: Take Action to Protect Wildlife

Arizona’s wildlife is facing an unnecessary and outdated threat: the use of packs of hunting dogs to pursue and kill mammals like mountain lions, bears, coyotes, and bobcats. This cruel practice, known as hounding, doesn’t just harm the target animals—it also puts federally protected animals, entire ecosystems, and even public safety at risk.

That’s why a group of organizations—including the Center for Biological Diversity, the Grand Canyon chapter of the Sierra Club, the Mountain Lion Foundation, Lobos of the Southwest, Wild Earth Guardians, Wildlife for All, Conservation CATalyst, Madrean Archipelago Wildlife Center and Animal Defense League of AZ—submitted a rulemaking petition to the Arizona Game & Fish Commission to end hound hunting in Arizona.

Now, we need your voice to help make this change a reality.

Arizona’s Game & Fish Department has a legal duty to protect the state’s wildlife. However, current regulations still permit hounding for mountain lions almost year-round and allow hounding for bobcats, foxes, and badgers for eight months annually. Shockingly, some species—including coyotes, skunks, and rabbits—can be hunted with hounds year-round with no restrictions.

This level of unregulated, relentless pursuit is not sustainable or humane. Between 2020 and 2023, hound hunting led to the killing of 748 mountain lions and 323 black bears in Arizona alone. This high level of hunting pressure is neither ethical nor scientifically justified.

The Dangers of Hound Hunting

Hound hunting is more than just an extreme form of hunting. It involves packs of dogs chasing animals for miles, often for hours or even days, until the exhausted prey can no longer run. The practice causes immense stress and suffering—not just for the intended targets, but for many other species as well.

Hounding harms federally protected species. Arizona is home to rare and endangered species, including jaguars, Mexican gray wolves, and ocelots. These animals have already suffered due to habitat destruction and human activity, and hounding only increases the risks they face:

Jaguars: At least five of the last eight jaguars documented in the Southwest have been impacted by hound hunting, with some being chased, treed, or forced to relocate. Hounding is allowed in 65% of federally designated jaguar critical habitat within the Coronado National Forest.
Ocelots: These mid-sized cats are at risk of being chased or killed due to their resemblance to bobcats, a legal target for hounding. Records and hunter testimonials confirm that ocelots have been pursued and treed by hounds at least a dozen times with no repercussions from AZGF.
Mexican gray wolves: Arizona acknowledges the risk of mistaken identity between wolves and coyotes, especially during summer months when wolf pups are active. Hounding of coyotes in wolf-occupied areas increases the risk of harm to these endangered animals.

Hounding has ecological and ethical concerns. Beyond direct harm to individual animals, hounding disrupts ecosystems
because packs of hunting dogs create a “landscape of fear.”

Wildlife are constantly on edge, disrupting natural behaviors and migrations. Uncontrolled packs of dogs chasing
wildlife across large areas will affect their normal behaviors, causing countless species to abandon habitat which particularly harms ground-nesting birds.
Hounded animals experience extreme stress, which can affect reproduction rates and territorial behavior, leading to broader ecological consequences. Hound hunting has huge impact on deer populations and deeply affects fawn survival.
The use of vehicles off designated roads, such as ATVs, to follow hounds is in violation of Arizona’s prohibition on using motor vehicles to pursue or take wildlife.
Arizona regulations require hunters to be present for the entire hunt. However, GPS and telemetry technology allow hunters to track hounds remotely, often violating the intent of this rule.
Arizona allows commercial guiding services to use hounds for hunting on public lands, even in areas where protected species like jaguars and Mexican wolves are known to roam. This increases risks to these species and public land ecosystems.
There are documented instances of packs of hounds attacking hikers and mauling pets, making public lands feel unsafe for families with pets or kids due to uncontrolled hounds.

The Myths of Hound Hunting

Some claim that hound hunting helps manage wildlife populations or benefits conservation, but the facts tell a different story:

Hound hunting isn’t selective. Packs of dogs chase any animal they come across, including non-target and protected species.
Hounding can spread diseases like rabies impacting public health and safety. One hound hunter lost an entire pack to a rabies infection after his dogs encountered—and killed—an infected skunk, which he did not witness. He only discovered the rabies infection later. Arizona is currently experiencing a number of rabies outbreaks in several counties.
Killing carnivores can increase conflict. Removing mature, established cougars or bears disrupts ecosystems and can lead to more human-wildlife conflicts.
Hound hunting doesn’t help deer populations. Science shows that factors like habitat loss and climate change have a far greater impact on deer numbers than carnivore populations.
Hound hunting provides little revenue. The financial contribution of cougar and bear hunting is minimal compared to the damage it causes to Arizona’s wildlife and ecosystems.

Some Arizona Lawmakers Are Trying to Silence Us

Some Arizona lawmakers introduced HB2552, a blatant attempt to silence public input and scientific debate on wildlife policy—just as the Commission is set to consider our two petitions to ban this cruel and ecologically damaging practice.

HB2552 was revised from its original intent that would have stripped the Arizona Game and Fish Commission of its authority to regulate hound hunting instead of allowing a fair and open debate on our petition—a move that would set a dangerous precedent for wildlife governance in Arizona. However, this revised version still codifies hound hunting into law in an attempt to pre-empting the public petition process through the Commission. Read more about this bill.

Join Us in Protecting Arizona’s Wildlife

Arizona’s hounding regulations are outdated, inhumane, and ecologically destructive. It’s time for change. Ending recreational hound hunting will:

Reduce the risk to rare and federally protected species.
Protect entire ecosystems from unnecessary stress and harm.
Ensure Arizona’s wildlife management aligns with modern conservation values.

We need your support to get these rulemaking petitions passed. Take action today by urging the Arizona Game & Fish Commission to ban hound hunting.

How To Take Action:

Write the Arizona Game & Fish Commission members to support our rulemaking petitions. Use this page: scroll to each member and use the form linked after their bios that says “Contact Me.”
Contact your state senator and urge them to oppose HB2552.
Reach out to Governor Hobbs and let her know where you stand. Ask her to veto HB2552 if it comes across her desk.
Write a letter to the editor of your local paper to raise awareness.
Recruit others by sharing this information on social media and within your community.
Show up on April 11 when we present these petitions at the Arizona Game and Fish Commission meeting in Phoenix. You don’t have to speak—just being there and wearing red will show our collective power!

End Hound Hunting In Arizona