An Entertainment Abuses Article from All-Creatures.org

Police Should Not Support Wildlife Killing Contests

From Rev. David Sickles
October 2023

Red Squirrel, image from Nadia Tighe, Pixabay.com

"Police should not support sport killings"
Letter published on TribuneChronicle, October 22, 2023

DEAR EDITOR:

Fowler Township police recently sponsored a Youth Squirrel Hunt Contest in Cortland.

Despite its innocuous name, the “contest” simply was a bloodbath for entertainment, with kids competing for prize money for killing the heaviest squirrel or one with the longest tail.

Wildlife killing contests are a far cry from traditional fair chase hunting, nor are they sound, science-based wildlife management. They create instability and chaos in family structures of animals killed, and population may even grow to outnumber that before killing contests were conducted.

These events glorify killing, violence and flout sportsmanship ethics and outdoor traditions. Some so-called “traditions” need to fade away. North American Model of Wildlife Conservation (NAMWC), which embraces public trust doctrine, hold that wildlife belongs to everyone. Basic tenets of hunting are to allow fair chase, not to use animals as live targets, to protect mothers and dependent young. Cash awards, prizes and bragging rights are not legitimate reasons to kill animals, and killing contests are the definition of casual killing, which NAMWC condemns.

Wildlife management agencies and lawmakers in a growing number of states recently have banned killing contests. For instance, the Arizona Game and Fish Commission stated, “To the extent these contests reflect on the overall hunting community, public outrage with these events has the potential to threaten hunting as a legitimate wildlife management function.”

Supporters allege the activity is family-friendly “sport,” but in no other team or individual competition are opponents chased down and killed! Kids taught to hunt are actually being taught that it’s OK to kill animals for “fun” and prizes, and in the process, wild families are torn apart and orphaned young are left to die from starvation, predation or exposure.

It is most appalling that Fowler Township Police Department is sponsoring this! Isn’t there enough cruelty, ugliness and killing in this world without teaching our children such unnecessary foulness toward wildlife? Police departments should be interacting with children by teaching them kindness, compassion and ethics.

Township trustees and police Chief Mike Currington have not responded to emails, faxes and phone calls from citizens and animal welfare groups such as Friends of Animals, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals and Ohio Animal Advocates asking them to not sponsor this cruel, pointless, unsporting and ecologically damaging event in the future.

The first annual Youth Squirrel Hunt Contest should be the last one.

REV. DAVID SICKLES

Mentor

Why does Trumbull County police department want kids to kill?
Letter published on MahoningMatters.com, October 13, 2023

(EDITOR’S NOTE: This letter to Fowler Township Police Department Police Chief Mike Currington about Saturday’s planned squirrel hunt was shared for publication to Mahoning Matters).

Dear Chief Currington,

We noticed that you are a sponsor of the upcoming 1st Annual Youth Squirrel Hunt Contest, scheduled for October 14th at Luoma Outdoors, in Cortland and are writing to ask you to immediately cancel this event and not support this event in the future. Despite its innocuous-sounding name, this “contest” is simply a bloodbath for entertainment, with kid contestants competing for prize money to see who can kill the heaviest squirrel, and another winner for the squirrel killed with the longest tail. We ask that you not sponsor future stagings of this event for the following reasons.

Wildlife killing contests are a far cry from traditional fair chase hunting, nor are they sound, science-based wildlife management. They create instability and chaos in the family structures of animals who are killed, and the population may even grow to outnumber that in the area before the killing contest was conducted.

These events glorify killing and violence and flout sportsmanship ethics and outdoor traditions. Some so-called “traditions” need to fade away. The North American Model of Wildlife Conservation (NAMWC), which embraces the public trust doctrine, holds that wildlife belongs to everyone. The basic tenets of hunting are to allow fair chase, not to use animals as live targets and to protect mothers and their dependent young. Cash awards, prizes and bragging rights are certainly not legitimate reasons to kill animals, and killing contests are the very definition of casual killing, which the NAMWC also condemns.

Allowing this blood sport to continue gives hunters and wildlife agencies a black eye. Gratuitously slaughtering animals for thrills and prizes is unethical and out of step with our current understanding of ecosystems and the important role each species plays. Like dogfighting and cockfighting, wildlife killing contests should not be tolerated by a modern society.

Wildlife management agencies and lawmakers in a growing number of states, including Arizona, California, Massachusetts, New Mexico, Vermont and Washington have banned killing contests in recent years. The Arizona Game and Fish Commission stated, “To the extent these contests reflect on the overall hunting community, public outrage with these events has the potential to threaten hunting as a APPENDIX Wildlife Killing Contests - A guide to ending the blood sport in your community 30 legitimate wildlife management function.” Similarly, the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department said, “These kinds of competitive coyote hunts are raising concerns on the part of the public and could possibly jeopardize the future of hunting and affect access to private lands for all hunters.”

In Massachusetts, the agency reasoned that its regulation “addressed public concerns that these hunting contests are unethical, contribute to the waste of animals, and incentivize indiscriminate killing of wildlife, inconsistent with the North American Model of Wildlife Conservation” and recognized that “public controversy over this issue has the potential to threaten predator hunting and undermine public support for hunting in general[.]”

Supporters allege that the activity is a family-friendly “sport,” but in no other team or individual competition are opponents chased down and killed! Kids who are taught to hunt are actually being taught that it’s OK to kill animals for “fun” and prizes and in the process wild families are torn apart and orphaned young are left to starve.

It is most appalling that the police department is sponsoring this! Isn’t there enough cruelty, ugliness and killing in this world without teaching our children such unnecessary foulness toward wildlife? Police departments should be interacting with children by teaching them kindness, compassion and ethics.

For these reasons, we ask that you cancel this event and not sponsor this cruel, pointless, unsporting and ecologically damaging event in the future.

We are aware that national animal welfare groups such as Friends of Animals, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals and Ohio Animal Advocates have already contacted you requesting that you rethink your involvement in these types of animal abusive events.

Thank you for your time and consideration, and we look forward to hearing from you soon.

Sincerely,

Rev. David Sickles

Mentor, Ohio

---

Return to Entertainment Abuses Articles
Read more at Animal Rights/Vegan Activist Strategies