Misfortune dogs canine castoffs [/align]Animals no longer useful to hunters are often abandoned[/align][/align]Saturday, Feb 16, 2008 - 12:08 AMUpdated: 02:52 PM[/align] [/align][/align]By JANET CAGGIANO[/align]TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER[/align][/align] It happens like clockwork.
Every January, a week or so after deer-hunting season has ended, beagles and tri-colored hounds show up at landfills scrounging for food. They rummage through backyard trash cans hoping to find a morsel.
"It's heartbreaking," said Mark Counts, animal-control officer for King and Queen County.
Evidence, Counts said, suggests that most of these lost canines were once hunting dogs, cut loose by their owners because they no longer serve a purpose -- too old, too slow or just unwilling to hunt.
"I don't know who these hunters are," Counts said. "I would kill to find a person doing it . . . so we could have them arrested."
Still, county officials say, the problem is not nearly as bad as it used to be. Many hunters pamper their dogs, spending large sums of money to keep them happy and healthy.
"It used to take us a few months to clean up all the dogs that were running loose," said Franklin Bates, supervisor of animal control for Charles City County. "But now there's a better working relationship with the hunt clubs."
Abandoning a dog is a misdemeanor, punishable by up to a year in jail and a fine up to $2,500. But it's next to impossible to catch someone in the act.
"The sad thing is, 99 percent of the hunters out there are responsible," Counts said. "Their dogs are in great shape. It's the small percentage who make things so difficult."
In rural counties across the region, animal shelters are taking in dozens of these throw-away purebreds and mixes. Since deer-hunting season kicked into high gear in November, Counts has picked up 35. The season ended Jan. 5.
"I wish this didn't happen at all," said Bradley McGehee, chief animal-control officer for Louisa County. "But the sad reality is, if a dog doesn't perform, [hunters] will abandon it. It's cheaper for them to buy a new one next fall than feed this one all winter."
The Louisa shelter took in 70 dogs in January. Twenty-two, or 31 percent, were abandoned hunting dogs. They are classified that way because of the telltale signs -- breed, collar marks, a skinny frame or perhaps a tattoo. Most of the beagles and hounds are older, but some are young pups afraid of loud noises such as gunfire.
"No one comes looking for them," said Sgt. Kevin Kilgore, chief of animal control in Hanover County. "We just find them walking down the middle of the road."
By law, county pounds must hold a lost dog five to 10 days. If no one claims it, officers try to adopt it out, or they turn it over to the Richmond Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and other animal-rescue groups.
Of the 165 dogs up for adoption at the SPCA, 40 are hounds, beagles or mixes. Many come from the Hanover shelter. The Hickory Hill Canine Rescue outside Ashland typically has about 50 ex-hunting dogs available for adoption.
Because many of these dogs are not accustomed to life as a family pet, they are harder to adopt. Their stay with rescue groups can be a year or longer.
Animal shelters don't have the luxury of waiting that long.
"Unless I can get them adopted, the prognosis is not good," McGehee said. Louisa euthanizes 25 percent to 50 percent of its hounds and beagles.
"I hate what happens," he said. "The fact that we find homes for some makes it better, but it still doesn't make it good. It's sad, and I don't know what to do to stop it."
Education is one key -- making sure hunters know they can legally turn in their dogs to their county animal shelter if they don't want them anymore.
"There's no sense turning them loose where they can cause problems on the road," said Jimmy Fitzgerald, a Charles City resident.
A hunter for 25 years, Fitzgerald has relinquished about 10 of his dogs to the county shelter because they were too old or did not hunt well.
"You do get attached to them," he said. "But you have to overlook that."
The older dogs are harder to place, but rescue groups such as Hanover's Hickory Hill and BARK, as well as Indian Rivers Humane Society in Aylett, will keep them indefinitely.
"These dogs are viewed as disposable, but they make the most loyal and loving pets," said Linda Wickham, who founded Hickory Hill two years ago. "The ones that don't want to hunt are so grateful to find a new home."
Contact Janet Caggiano at (804) 649-6157 or [email protected].
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