Dealing with abandoned hunting dogs

Masato Araki

Feb. 21, 2018

Achieving "no-kill" at government-run facilities for abandoned animals is a sought-after goal across Japan. But one prefecture that no longer puts down dogs is facing a new problem.

In mountains of Kanagawa, about an hour's drive from Tokyo, hunters are going after deer. Along with them go man's best friends -- hunting dogs. The dogs bark when they locate game. GPS devices attached to their collars pinpoint the dog's location. It also prevents them from getting lost. "I'm doing this to protect these valuable dogs. Purebreds can be expensive, so I’ll do my best to find them if they do get lost," says the owner.

But not all the hunters are a dog's best friend. Every year, many hunting dogs wind up at a Kanagawa prefectural facility that takes care of lost and abandoned animals. Some are brought in by their owners, others have been found roaming in the woods, and most are old and not well trained.

There is no legally binding system for registering hunting dogs. So if they don't have microchips or identification tags on their collars, there is no way to track down the owner.

A gas chamber was used to kill dogs that weren't claimed. It was active until 5 years ago. Today, Kanagawa's success in attaining a "no-kill" policy is mostly attributed to the hard work of volunteers who have found new homes for these unwanted dogs.

But unlike smaller, indoor breeds, few people want to adopt hunting dogs that are bigger, often louder and sometimes even aggressive, as household pets.

Hidetaka Kikuchi runs an NPO to rescue hunting dogs. Kikuchi's group takes in larger breeds from the prefectural facility. His shelter currently houses hunting dogs such as Walker hounds, English pointers and Setters. Their number sometimes reaches 130. "It's a lot of work because they have a lot of energy. They’re quite different from other breeds," says Kikuchi.

Ironically, achieving "no-kill" over the last 5 years has brought more hunting dogs into Kikuchi's care and he is starting to feel overwhelmed. "Kanagawa prefecture is able to have a "No Kill" policy because the dogs in the government shelter are simply passed down to people like us," he says.

The budget and space to house unwanted animals in the Kanagawa facility is limited. Kikuchi is concerned the practice of euthanasia will resume if they are unable to deal with the root cause of abandonment.

A local government authority was well aware of the issue of hunting dogs. "We hope to create a system in which hunters report the number and type of their dogs to the prefectural government," he says.

It's not clear how effective the system would be in reducing the number of abandoned hunting dogs. But while awaiting a solution, the animals are the ones paying the price.