A family from Rural Retreat, Virginia, is offering a $1,000 reward for information on a missing bear hound who was taken from the side of the road by three women in a maroon van with Florida license plates on Saturday. Rocky Deel and his 11-year-old son Charlie had collected five of their six dogs after an unsuccessful day of bear hunting in Speedwell around Hale Lake when they realized the sixth dog, a \u201cblue English\u201d coonhound named Ringo, was nowhere to be found. Then they got a call from a family friend and fellow hunter.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe said [Ringo] was out on Route 21,\u201d Rocky tells Outdoor Life<\/em>. \u201cBy the time we get down off the mountain and get to where he was at, we can\u2019t find the dog but we\u2019re still picking up the signal from the collar. Well, we end up finding the collar laying in the ditch.\u201d<\/p>\n The hunter who had called Rocky had actually spoken with the women on the side of the road, who had sworn they would drive Ringo into cell phone service and call the Deels using the number on Ringo\u2019s collar. So the hunter drove away, leaving Ringo with the women. But Rocky never heard from them. Now, he and his family suspect the women thought they were \u201csaving\u201d Ringo from a neglectful home where he was forced to hunt. <\/p>\n Meanwhile, the Deels are reeling\u2014especially Charlie.<\/p>\n \u201cThis just broke his heart,\u201d Rocky says. \u201cHe loves the dogs. He would help me do the feeding, but now he\u2019s telling me he can\u2019t help me feed without Ringo being there. It just didn\u2019t feel right.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Bear hunting with hounds is legal in Virginia and other states. It\u2019s often controversial, however, and in Vermont, for example, bear hounds and their owners have been attacked<\/a> by anti-hunting activists in the past. But Rocky says he\u2019s never had any conflicts with anyone else over the practice.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cAround here, everybody hunts. It\u2019s a hunting community,\u201d Deel says. \u201cAnd for the most part you don\u2019t have any trouble. We\u2019ve never had any issues with anyone. But [the other hunter] did say [the women] were going on about how they think hunting is cruel, and that we make these dogs hunt. So I don\u2019t know if they thought I was being cruel to the dog, but these dogs are bred for this. You don\u2019t make<\/em> them hunt.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Surely these women didn\u2019t consider the legal implications of their actions. Stealing a dog in Virginia is a Class 5 felony<\/a>, punishable by up to 10 years in prison. Additionally, removing a GPS collar from a dog is a Class 1 misdemeanor<\/a>, which could get them another year in jail or a $2,500 fine. Interference with lawful hunting is a Class 3 misdemeanor<\/a>, which might tack on an additional $500 fine.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Read Next<\/strong>: Volunteer Firefighters Rescue a Pack of Bear Hounds from an Icy Hollow in the Appalachians<\/a><\/p>\n![\"ringo](\"https:\/\/www.outdoorlife.com\/uploads\/2023\/10\/19\/ringo_side_view_.jpg\")