Hunting Dogs - Dogs Breeds

I am concerned about the problems we are having throughout Berkeley County with hunters who hunt deer with dogs. I am not associated with any radical anti-hunting group, and my intent is not to ban hunting.

MeadWestvaco is one of the larger landowners in Berkeley County and leases its property to dog hunters. For years private landowners like myself have had to deal with problems that result from dogs and hunters repeatedly trespassing onto private property from MeadWestvaco hunt clubs.

MeadWestvaco has been notified in writing, and verbally told numerous times, but has failed to take any meaningful action to fix this problem. As a matter of fact this past season has been the worst we have had.

On Dec. 28, 2008, my mom was injured as a result of trying to stop two deer dogs from killing my dad’s chickens. She is 73 years old and was home alone at the time, but felt she had to do something to stop the dogs.

These dogs had tracking collars, and within a few hours the hunter tracked the dogs to my mom’s house. This happened during the Christmas holidays, a time when we should have been enjoying family. My mom has since been back and forth to doctors trying to get relief from the pain she is enduring and has obtained an attorney to handle her case. Had MeadWestvaco taken action to respond to our complaints, this could have been avoided.

We cannot enjoy the use of our property due to MeadWestvaco leasing to dog hunters.

I think everyone should have the right to use their property in any way they choose, but when the use impacts neighboring landowners and your neighbor does not correct the problem — then it is wrong.

A typical response from the hunters is that the dogs cannot read, or can’t be expected to know where property lines are.

My response to that is, they are exactly right, and the dog owner knows in advance that they cannot control where their dogs go. But it makes no difference.

There are no substantial penalties to the dog owners when they allow their dogs to cross onto private property, at least none that we have been able to find. We have talked to government agencies such as Berkeley County Animal Control, Berkeley County Sheriffs Department and even the Department of Natural Resources.

The people I have dealt with from these agencies have been more than willing to do what they can, but their hands are tied.

I am not the only private landowner having this problem. We are organizing local landowners to take a stand against this ongoing abuse. Our goal is to pursue political and public support and if necessary initiate legal action to stop the abuse of our rights as landowners. The burden and cost to fix this problem should not be placed on the private landowners.

I was told by one of our state representatives that it would be helpful to provide input as to what I thought it would take to solve the problem.

Based on both MeadWestvaco’s and the hunter’s failures to take action and our government agencies inability to help, the only solution I see is to stop dog hunting. I have absolutely no confidence that any compromise that might come to the table can, or will be enforced.

Source: Charleston.com

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