Speak Out Against Coyote-Killing Contests
Action Alert from All-Creatures.org
FROM
NARN Northwest Animal Rights
Network
December 2018
ACTION
Here’s a celebration of a lack of empathy: To reward people who’ve learned
coyote calls well enough to lure them to their deaths, the United States
Predator Challenge invites people from three parts of the country to kill
coyotes and bring their carcasses to three locations for counting toward a
depraved contest entry. The website reads, “We want to stress the importance
that to win one of these regional contests will be HUGE… and to win the
overall Championship will truly set the bar in the predator calling world.”
Help end these atrocious "contests"!
In an action alert,
Project Coyote asks that you:
- Urge your state legislators to support a ban on wildlife killing
contests, which are cruel and unsporting, in your state. Locate your
state legislators here.
- Urge your city and/or county council to pass a resolution condemning
wildlife killing contests and calling for a statewide legislative ban.
This year, the city councils of Albuquerque, New Mexico, and
Dewey-Humboldt, Arizona, passed similar resolutions.
- Write letters to the editor of your local newspaper.
a. For tips and tools about writing letters to the editor, click here.
b. Talking points (it’s important to be polite and personalize your
message):
- States should follow the lead of California and Vermont and ban the
killing of coyotes and other wildlife for prizes and fun.
- Wildlife killing contests are conducted for profit,
entertainment, prizes, and simply for the “fun” of killing.
- No evidence exists showing that indiscriminate killing
contests serve any effective wildlife management function. Coyote
populations that are not hunted or trapped form stable family groups
that naturally limit populations. Indiscriminate killing of coyotes
disrupts this social stability, resulting in increased reproduction and
pup survival. Read more here and here.
- Coyotes play an important ecological role helping to maintain
healthy ecosystems and species diversity. As the top carnivore in some
ecosystems, coyotes provide many benefits including providing free
rodent control and regulating the number of mesocarnivores (such as
skunks and raccoons), which in turn helps to boost ground and song bird
abundance and biodiversity. Read more here.
- Wildlife killing contests perpetuate a culture of violence and
send the message to children that life has little value and that animals
are disposable.
- Wildlife killing contests put non-target wildlife, companion
animals, and people at risk.
- Killing as many animals as possible conflicts with traditional
fair-chase hunting values and contravenes science-based wildlife
conservation principles and practices.
- Help sponsor a screening of
Killing Games: Wildlife In The Crosshairs in your community. Contact
Project Coyote at [email protected] about sponsorship
opportunities.
For more information about wildlife killing contests, please visit the
NATIONAL COALITION TO END WILDLIFE KILLING CONTESTS website here.
Thank you for everything you do for animals!
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