Animal rights advocates are calling on Massachusetts to ban coyote-hunting competitions, where hunters are rewarded for bagging the biggest beasts with cash prizes.
“This comes down to a values and an ethics issue,” Liz Magner, an animal advocacy specialist at the MSPCA, told the Herald. “We think the Division of Fisheries and Wildlife should ban these contests because it’s the right thing to do. It sends a message that our state can tell the difference between responsible use and wildlife management and senseless killing.”
The coyote contests are held annually in Granby and Hyannis, according to Magner. Coyote hunting is allowed in Massachusetts during coyote hunting season, which is from October to March, and state law does not prohibit private entities offering prizes.
MassWildlife is holding a public listening session on coyote management, hunting, and hunting contests on Thursday from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m…
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Exposing the Big Game 
Wildlife killing contests are spreading. Hunters are drawing attention to themselves and their ethics and killing tradition. Some states have taken action to stop such barbarity. More have proposed bills. Considering all the legitimized killing of wildlife (hunting, trapping, so called management) under the auspices of state wildlife agencies, I guess it is really not a big step to killing contests. We need to end trapping altogether, end hunting or dramatically curtail it to special needs occasions but that concept is abused already by hunters and wildlife agencies. And we need to stop wildlife killing contests altogether. Hunters and their wildlife agencies are skilled in the subterfuge, rationalizations, justifications for wildlife killing and get away with it framed as management, control of populations, culling, human conflict prevention, control of predators so they have more of some wildlife targets to kill (unproven, unscientific, old mantra of hunters). Hunters also justify wildlife killing as an honored tradition and as a money maker for states, localities, and the nation. Given all the institutionalized, legalized, killing traditions, no wonder then killing contests are rampant. Perhaps they are the manifestation of the last gasps and assertion of a dying sport.
https://www.tulsaworld.com/animal-doctor-wildlife-killing-contests-are-threat-to-public-health/article_a0f5b801-5241-5d9d-85c3-f05a4428d225.html
http://naturalresourcereport.com/2019/02/bill-bans-hunting-contestsfbclid=IwAR36rhWEK0593EgQshtAzrA63RiMTD3DC_s7SlatUWtfIPeNdYr_6nflTbI
http://www.projectcoyote.org/endkillingcontests/
Most Americans are shocked to learn that each year thousands of coyotes, foxes, bobcats, prairie dogs, crows, and even wolves are targeted in “wildlife killing contests” where contestants win prizes and awards for … http://www.projectcoyote.org/wkc/
May 22, 2018 · Wildlife killing contests are legal in all U.S. states save California. The most popular targets are coyotes — “varmints,” as they’re commonly called even by some wildlife officials. Contestants fan out into … https://e360.yale.edu/features/coyote-carnage-the-gruesome-truth-about-wildlife-killing-contests
Click to access 2018-undercover-investigation-wildlife-report.pdf
Jun 23, 2018 · Every year, thousands of animals are killed for fun (and often, cash prizes) in wildlife killing contests. Participants at these events are given free rein to kill as many animals as possible of a single .. https://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/thirteen-unlucky-animals-wildlife-killing-contests
Unlike dogfighting and cockfighting, which have been condemned as barbaric and outlawed in every state, wildlife killing contests persist and may even be growing in popularity. These competitive killing events. https://volunteers.humanesociety.org/theHub/?downloadFile=1&table=resources&field=file&check=b4b882f6c9a0d640fea6e379e97bc075&key=695
https://www.humanesociety.org/news/new-mexico-bans-cruel-wildlife-killing-contests-state-lands
https://www.pennlive.com/life/2019/02/pennsylvania-coyote-hunters-claim-nearly-50000-in-prize-money.html
Mary Markos Boston Herald
Apr 3, 2019
https://www.unionleader.com/news/massachusetts-coyote-hunt-competitions-cause-controversy/article_80edbd2d-4fa7-5eae-9486-52704d306768.html
Animal rights advocates are calling on Massachusetts to ban coyote-hunting competitions, where hunters are rewarded for bagging the biggest beasts with cash prizes.
“This comes down to a values and an ethics issue,” Liz Magner, an animal advocacy specialist at the MSPCA, told the Herald. “We think the Division of Fisheries and Wildlife should ban these contests because it’s the right thing to do.”
https://www.unionleader.com/news/massachusetts-coyote-hunt-competitions-cause-controversy/article_80edbd2d-4fa7-5eae-9486-52704d306768.html
Animal rights advocates are calling on Massachusetts to ban coyote-hunting competitions, where hunters are rewarded for bagging the biggest beasts with cash prizes. “This comes down to a values and an ethics issue,” Liz Magner, an animal advocacy specialist at the MSPCA, told the Herald. “We think the Division of Fisheries and Wildlife should ban these contests because it’s the right thing to do.
“Perhaps they are the manifestation of the last gasps and assertion of a dying sport.”
It does seem this way, and that they are spreading – in all parts of the country. Or the ‘you can’t tell us what to do’ mentality.
The post above about South Dakota trying to ‘reinvigorate’ trapping is another example – how low can they go? We’ll see.
With trapping, they’re getting there…