I run a Wisconsin-based wildlife nonprofit (Great Lakes Wildlife Alliance). We just filed a petition with the DNR for an emergency and permanent rule change on bear hound training.

Some context most people don't know: from July 1 to August 31, Wisconsin allows unlimited hound training on bears. No license required. No distance limit. No exception for heat advisories, air quality warnings, nothing. Somewhere between 14,000 and 16,000 hounds are released onto the landscape every single day of that window.

CORRECTION: 14-16k dogs estimated during the 60 day season not day, my apologies.

The video is hard to watch, but it's exactly what's legally happening right now, unregulated: https://youtube.com/shorts/KiLLZMaAHw0

Some numbers from state records:

$1.6M+ paid out of Wisconsin's Endangered Species Fund for claims tied to hounds released in wolf caution zones

82% of handlers cited in those incidents are repeat offenders

DNR stopped tracking hound injury/mortality data after 2014

Our petition asks for two specific things: a pause on hound training during heat/smoke advisories, and a cap on chase distance. Nothing radical — just basic limits that don't currently exist.

Full petition and background: https://wiwolvesandwildlife.wpcomstaging.com/2026/07/21/breaking-glwa-files-er-petition-to-the-dnr-nrb-to-save-bears-now/

Happy to answer questions about the regulatory process, the DNR's rulemaking timeline, or anything else. This is a small all-volunteer org, no corporate funding, so if this is the kind of thing you care about, spreading it further helps more than anything else.

Deal could mean large profits for American companies but also raises concerns about nuclear proliferation in Middle East