TN Hunting Dogs Hoax

One of our TN Pet-Law list members sent in the following information last night, but they prefer to keep their privacy.  If you run across this story, or you want to visit this site, please set people straight.  We get tired of people making up stories about how cruel people in Tennessee are to animals, or how cruel hunters are.  No one is hunting these dogs down.  If you are a hunter you need to be extra careful with your dogs if you use this method of identification because people will be trying to pick up your dogs and you could even be accused of cruelty apparently.  Sheesh!

And, by the way, just how gullible are some people?  Or was this an intentional effort to get good-hearted people to steal hunting dogs from their owners?

Carlotta

Something came up on my Facebook wall tonight and it’s got me extremely mad.  This group https://www.facebook.com/rescueink  has posted, and may even have the dog in their possession, of a hound from East TN.  It’s clearly a hunting hound. The number 500 has been bleached into it’s fur, and this group is telling everyone that it’s been freeze branded.  Marking hounds is very common, in order for hunters to see them at great distances.  This dog has been bleached, just like women have their hair bleached.  It’s thin because it’s a HUNTER.  They are telling the public that us Tennesseans have a new game.......whoever kills this dog gets 500 points.  It’s a hunting game for us.....all of these dogs with numbers are set loose and we’re hunting them down.  I’m infuriated!  They are telling the public that if you see any dog with a number on it’s side, to pick it up because us hunters are going to kill it.  I thought it’s something that should be gotten out to the hunters......watch your dogs.   Oh, and it’s been picked up by several websites.  Here’s an example in Kansas I think: http://www.examiner.com/article/new-hunting-game-put-dogs-and-people-danger

Highway Robbery in Tennessee

Here's a great video by a Tennessee news station (NewsChannel 5) on civil asset forfeiture. It shows how police are using this practice to steal money from motorists using the pretense that it's drug money.

So, why am I posting this video here on a list about animals? Because this is exactly the same practice that is being used to steal dogs from breeders, not just in Tennessee, but all over the country. Civil asset forfeiture laws are being misused to allow law enforcement (and animal rights-driven rescues) to seize animals on the suspicion of someone having committed a crime, before anything has been proven. And those animals are being dispersed, with the money made from them going to animal rights-oriented rescues and shelters. Those actions are just as illegal as what you see being done in this video.