Sound Off: Do You Support Hounding?

Are you already looking forward to the weekend, even though the week just started?

Well, here's your chance to let off some steam. Go ahead and rant about whatever you want.

Here's something that's been lighting up Twitter and the letters page of the Napa Valley Register: State Senate Bill 1221, which would have outlawed hounding, failed by just one vote.

Hounding is a practice in which hunters use packs of radio-collared dogs to chase bears and bobcats to exhaustion at which point the animals either face the marauding dogs or seek refuge in a tree where they are typically shot at point-blank range, according to the bill's supporters.

It's hard to imagine that happening in Napa County, or anywhere in the Bay Area. We like to think we live in a state where animal rights are strongly represented, but hounding does happen in California. In fact, only 13 states, including Wyoming and Montana, have banned hounding.

Playing the Devil's Advocate, I can imagine ranchers might think they're protecting livestock by shooting bears and bobcats.

There's also the argument advanced by Register outdoors columnist Guy Carl, who recently opined that success for the bill could lead to a ban on all hunting with guns and eventually end hunting altogether.

Then again, this seems like a needlessly cruel activity. If you're having trouble with animal predators, call the Department of Fish and Game, or someone who can capture the animal without killing it.

Need to get something off your chest, but you don't who to tell? Let us know and together we can make sure the community leaders hear our voices.

What makes you happy and proud to live in Napa and what drives you crazy? Give us your rants and rave, but please keep it clean and to the point.

This isn't a fruitless exercise. We'll turn as many Rants into stories that we can, following up with the right people on the questions you want asked or the problems you want solved.

Now put us to work. Sound off!