PHOENIX— The Arizona Game and Fish Commission will consider a petition from conservation groups Friday that would ban the use of dog packs to hunt mountain lions, bears, bobcats, foxes and other wildlife. The petition calls on the commission to modernize Arizona’s regulations, as other states have done, to safeguard both wildlife and people.

What: Commission hearing on dog pack hunting petition.

When: Friday, April 11, 2025, 8:00 a.m.

Where: Arizona Game and Fish Department, 5000 W. Carefree Highway, Phoenix, AZ 85086. The meeting will also be livestreamed.

Who: Center for Biological Diversity staff will attend and be available after the hearing.

Background
In November conservation groups petitioned the Arizona Game and Fish Commission to ban using dog packs in Arizona, citing serious risks to wildlife, public safety and ethical hunting practices.

Hound hunting poses a clear and documented threat to federally protected jaguars and ocelots in the Southwest, with multiple recorded incidents of hounds chasing and treeing these endangered cats in Arizona. At least five jaguars have been pursued or harmed by hounds in the region since 1996, with Sombra abandoning his preferred habitat because of the presence of packs made up of as many as 30 dogs.

Similarly, packs of hunting dogs have chased or treed endangered ocelots more than a dozen times in Arizona since 2011. The repeated pursuit by hounds disrupts natural behaviors, causes physical stress and forces these rare cats from their essential habitats, threatening their survival and broader species recovery efforts.

Arizona allows packs of dogs to chase and attack mountain lions, bears, coati and bobcats for sport. According to Arizona Game and Fish data, 748 mountain lions and 323 bears were reported killed by hunters using packs of dogs between 2020 and 2023. A 2020 study estimated that the state’s entire mountain lion population was between 1,166 and 1,715.

Hound hunting relies on GPS-collared dogs, remotely tracked via smart devices, to pursue wildlife, violating fair chase principles and state restrictions on electronic hunting. Additionally, uncontrolled hounds pose risks to public safety, sometimes attacking people on public lands.