By now we have all read about, watched coverage and maybe even seen a flyer related to the tragic death of a local family’s beloved puppy by a person hunting within the city limits. This is upsetting and should never have happened. However, as a hunter with a city permit myself, I take issue with the one-sided reports of this event. There’s more to this. In fact, I see at least six laws or understood practices that were broken allowing this to happen—three by the hunter and three by the owners of the puppy.
The hunter admits he was hunting after legal hours. It’s obvious he was not sure of his target and what was beyond. He also admits he was hunting for coyote within the city. Only deer may be hunted within the city limits.
On the other side, the pet owner admits they were walking their dog off leash within the city limits which is a violation of local ordinance. The pet owner also admits they were walking their dog in Evergreen West Cemetery–this too is a violation of a local ordinance forbidding dogs from being in a cemetery. And finally, the dog was allowed to wander through a fence opening and onto private land which is trespassing.
As pet owners we owe it to our pets to keep them safe, and as hunters we owe it everyone to keep them safe. Two people combined to make at minimum six mistakes that cost this poor dog its life. We all hate learning lessons the hard way but sadly that seems to be the way we learn best. There’s no way to ever be completely safe and that’s why knee-jerk laws are not warranted and generally ineffective. We have had archery hunting for deer within the City of Manitowoc for over a decade now and this is the first incident I have heard about. Understand that one incident is one too many but be honest and ask yourself, what is accomplished by placing more restrictions on those who were following the rules all along?
Jason Slady is a guest contributor of The Periscope Group.
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