A sweeping view of Arizona’s rugged desert landscape shows a home for various species facing growing conservation challenges.
Mariella Cusano, an editor for XPress, Xavier College Preparatory’s newspaper
Arizona rejects petitions to protect endangered species from hound hunting
On April 11, 2025, the Arizona Game and Fish Department, in a controversial decision, voted to reject petitions from local conservation groups that sought to prohibit the use of hound hunting against endangered wildlife.
The petition, backed by the Center for Biological Diversity, cited repeat incidents of the harassment and displacement of endangered jaguars and ocelots by dog packs used in such hunting.
Despite the evidence presented in the proposal supporting that, at least five jaguars in southern Arizona have been driven from their habitats due to encounters with large hunting dog packs. The commission's decision maintains the legality of using dogs in big game hunting. Conservationists argue that not only does this practice violate standard hunting ethics, but breaches federal protections under the Endangered Species Act.
The proposed petition did not seek to eliminate all dog-assisted hunting, but rather aimed to set limits on its use to protect imperiled species. Specifically, it targeted the use of dogs in recreational hunts for large mammals while preserving allowances for bird hunting and wildlife management through permitted depredation hunts, which are conducted when wildlife damages property or livestock and after non-lethal methods are unsuccessful.
Tensions had already risen preceding the rejection of the petition, particularly after Commissioner James Goughner voiced support for a bill on February 10 that would have effectively nullified the petition by stripping the commission of authority over the issue and by limiting public input. Conservationists viewed this as a clear bias against wildlife protections.
“The commissioner abdicated his responsibility to protect Arizona wildlife by supporting this bill, which would've wiped out the commission’s authority and killed public input,” Southwest conservation activist at the Center for Biological Diversity Russ McSpadden said. “It’s infuriating that the commission is putting hunters over science, endangered species conservation and public trust,” he continued.
Regardless of this defeat, environmental groups have vowed to continue their efforts to protect endangered species within Arizona. With mounting public concern over the treatment of rare wildlife, the debate is expected to remain a flashpoint in Arizona’s environmental policy discourse.