Dwindling pheasant population leads to abandoned hunting dogs

Like millions of Americans, many bird dogs have been put out of work and out of their homes by the recession and unfavorable industry trends.

Here in Iowa, the most damaging industry trend - the rapid decline of the state's most popular game bird, the ring-necked pheasant - threatens to put even more pointers out of work when the season opens Oct. 30, said Janelle Ford, founder of Great Plains Pointer Rescue.

“We're nervous about the hunting season. We could see a rash of abandoned dogs when hunters find few, if any pheasants,” said Ford, of Omaha, Neb., who founded the rescue group in 2008 to find homes for abandoned German shorthaired pointers in Iowa and Nebraska.

During all of 2009, the group rescued 90 pointers, compared with 94 through the first nine months of this year, Ford said.

The collapse of pheasant populations has been a big contributing factor, along with the recession, in the increase in abandoned hunting dogs, she said.

People who acquire dogs with dreams of shared hunting adventures too often dump them when the good hunts fail to materialize, said Erin Brokel of Cedar Rapids, a Great Plains foster provider who has cared for seven abandoned hunting dogs and three puppies in the past year and a half.

After those dreams fade, “they find themselves with a hyperactive teenager and food, maintenance and veterinary bills,” Brokel said.

The abandoned dogs seldom have collars, tags or embedded microchips. “It seems clear that their owners don't want to be identified,” Brokel said.

With a third-straight record low pheasant harvest in the offing, “I think we are going to see more people quit hunting pheasants, and we are going to see tons of abandoned hunting dogs this fall,” said Kathleen Fischer of Washington, Iowa, who with her husband, Gary, provides transportation for the abandoned pointers.

The Department of Natural Resources expects 60,000 pheasant hunters this fall - down 23 percent from 86,000 just two years ago.

Courtney Cerbin of Des Moines, Great Plains' Iowa director, said it has more than 20 foster homes in Iowa and Nebraska. She said the average foster stay is from six to eight weeks, during which all the dog's veterinary needs are met.

Adoption fees range from $150 to $200, most of which pays for the dogs' veterinary care, she said.

In addition to dogs that have been dumped in rural areas, the group gets some of its dogs through owner surrenders, Cerbin said. She recalled a rescue of two adult pointers and five pups that occurred after a desperate owner called to say he would shoot them if Great Plains did not come and get them.

Cerbin, Fischer, Ford and Brokel all have horror stories about mistreated dogs that Great Plains has rescued.

Fischer remembers Frederick, a full-grown German shorthair male who should have weighed 65 pounds but weighed just 38 pounds when he was rescued near Cedar Rapids. “He was skin stretched over bone. He'd been on the run awhile,” she said.

Frederick, like almost all the pointers rescued by the group, now lives in a loving home.

“They are smart, loyal and obedient. Like all of us, they just need a good home and a job to do, an outlet for their energy,” Ford said.