In March 2018, Wisconsin’s Department of Natural Resources conservation officers contacted Wolf Patrol following the publishing of a series of videos, including this one, filmed by licensed hound hunter Nicholas Valenta.

A criminal investigation was launched because of the graphic and illegal hound hunting videos published on Facebook by Valenta which depicted hunting hounds mauling, wounding and killing coyotes, bears, raccoons and other wildlife in Wisconsin. No charges were brought against Valenta, Wolf Patrol was told by WDNR conservation officers, because the crimes took place more than 5 years ago.

The videos which were part of a series, “Wisconsin’s War on Wildlife” were re-published by Wolf Patrol on Vimeo because YouTube threatened to suspend our channel because of the film’s graphic nature. They can be viewed at:

https://vimeo.com/wolfpatrol

We are sharing the illegal and unethical practices allowed in bear hunting in Wisconsin, either by the WDNR’s own regulations, or the simple unwillingness by WDNR to prosecute wildlife crimes against sport hunters with powerful political allies in Wisconsin such as the Wisconsin Bear Hunters Association.

Wolf Patrol will also be releasing more videos that graphically illustrate what WDNR’s sanctioned black bear hunting & training seasons really look like, because we believe the public has a right to know what is legally sanctioned on public lands in Wisconsin.

Wisconsin citizens have responded to the continued hound hunting abuses allowed by WDNR and bear hunters in Wisconsin by introducing citizen resolutions to the Conservation Congress that would limit compensation received by hound hunters whose dogs fight with wolves and bears, and address other abuses.

The five resolutions being addressed by the WCC will be soundly rejected, as they are every year because of the WCC still being controlled by the hunting lobby in Wisconsin. But we don’t have to tolerate these practices on our national forest lands where they also occur in Wisconsin.

Wolf Patrol is asking citizens opposed to hound hunting abuses allowed by WDNR and the US Forest Service on the over 1.5 million acres of the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest to write letters to forest officials asking that summer bear hound training, bear baiting, and other abuses be prohibited, as they are in the majority of the national forest system.

Allowing packs of trained and satellite-tracked hounds to torment and torture bears, after dumping literal tons of human food waste to attract them should no longer be allowed on our national forest lands. If you agree, please send your email to:

cnnfadmin@fs.fed.us