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Right now, as you read this, much of northern Wisconsin is under a heat advisory and a hazardous air-quality alert. The sky is hazy with wildfire smoke. The state is warning people to limit time outdoors and protect their pets.
And out in those same woods, in that same heat and smoke, packs of dogs are being run on wild black bears — chasing them for miles.
This week, the Great Lakes Wildlife Alliance formally asked the Wisconsin DNR to promulgate an emergency rule to stop the running of bears by hounds while these dangerous heat and air-quality advisories are in effect.
Why this matters for bears
Here’s something most people don’t know: black bears are built to overheat.
They have large bodies, thick dark fur that soaks up heat, a heavy layer of fat, and — critically — no sweat glands. A dog can pant and run and shed heat. A bear can’t. So when temperatures climb, a bear’s whole survival strategy is to stop moving — to lie in the shade, or soak in a wetland, and wait out the heat of the day.
That’s not a preference. It’s physiology. A bear forced to run for miles in ninety-degree heat, breathing air the state has warned is hazardous, has no way to cool itself down. Wildlife veterinarians and bear experts confirm what common sense already tells us: bears are not long-distance runners, and being chased in extreme heat and smoke pushes them past their limits.
What we’re asking for
Our request is narrow and reasonable. We are not asking to end the July–August training season. We’re asking for one common-sense condition:
When the state itself has declared a heat advisory, an air-quality advisory, or a wildfire-smoke advisory, pause the running of bears until the dangerous conditions lift.
That’s it. When the air clears and the temperature drops, the activity continues. We only ask that bears not be run during the specific windows when the state’s own warnings say conditions are dangerous.
The state already protects the dogs
Here’s what makes this so fixable. The DNR already publishes hot-weather guidance for this activity — but every word of it is about the dogs: swap them out, keep them hydrated, keep them cool, run in the cooler morning hours.
That’s good advice. But there’s not one word of protection for the bear — the animal being chased for miles with no way to cool itself. If it’s too hot and smoky to be safe for the dogs, it’s too hot and smoky for the bear.
This isn’t a one-time problem
This week, air-quality monitors in the Northwoods — Ironwood and Crandon — pushed PM2.5 past 600, past the top of the hazardous scale, among the worst air quality in the world that day. And the smoke isn’t going away: severe episodes have hit the Upper Midwest in 2023, 2024, and 2025, and the science says they’re growing more frequent and intense because of climate change. Bears are being run through all of it.
🔥 Happening right now — the worst air on record:
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You have gone through the trouble of telling us the problem and what they are doing to the bears…..and then ask for contributions. Why don’t you at least have an action page that can be sent to the decision makers at the DNR and state officials asking them to stop this. All of us that took the time to read this, and are not contributing money, could have signed an action letter you could forward.
Please protect native wildlife, the bears and other animals, from being harassed and hunted in this life threatening heat and smoke. It is the sensible and humane thing to do. Thanks