By ADAM FRENIER • MAY 8, 2019
A coyote.GD TABER / CREATIVE COMMONS / FLICKR.COM/PHOTOS/SNOWMAIL
Some animal rights activists are calling on Massachusetts wildlife officials to ban coyote hunting contests in the state.
State officials say they are only aware of three hunting contests for coyotes across the state. And there are no specific regulations governing them besides the normal hunting laws.
Elizabeth Magner is with the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, which is one group pushing for these events to be outlawed.
“They’re essentially blood sport events that serve no wildlife management purpose at all,” Magner said.
And as to whether these contests help manage the coyote population, Magner said they go against modern wildlife control principles, and have the “potential to damage the reputation of ethical and responsible sportsmen and sportswomen.”
The Fairview Sportsmens Club of Granby…
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Exposing the Big Game 
This should be a no-brainer (and is). There’s no earthy reason to have one anywhere, nevermind a supposedly progressive thinking, overly citified developed state such as Mass. We can’t even really use the agricultural argument that they use out West.
I refuse to believe that the enjoyment sadistic killing is part of a human being’s rights!
It’s not.
Ida, Massachusetts has lots of forested rural places. It is not overly -citified, as you wrote. The western half of the state is full of trees, meadows, hills, rivers, lakes and ponds. You should visit if you have not already. I think heaven may look more like Western Massachusetts, than any other place. It is beautiful and serene.
I live here so I know. I mean relative to the rest of the country, and we don’t have sprawling ranches.
And I beg to differ, from what I have seen of the West – we here in the East are overly citified, so we need to protect whatever wild areas we have remaining.
MassWildlife, the Massachusetts state wildlife agency, appears to be as stupid about natural predators as hideously cruel states such as Wisconsin, Wyoming and Idaho. Massachusetts, a progressive state? Not regarding wildlife policy. Perhaps the strangely stuck-in-the-past staffers there will listen to the humane majority of Massachusetts citizens who are ready for the state to move into the 21st century with humane and progressive wildlife policies that honor honest science, promote respect for living wildlife and co-existence.
Yeah right!
I think there’s still hope for Maine, NH and Vermont though – a totally different mindset.
“With a surface area of just 10,555 square miles or 27,336 square kilometers, Massachusetts is the seventh smallest state in the USA. However, Massachusetts makes use of virtually every inch of its land and, for every square mile of land, there is an average of 839.4 people. Those figures make Massachusetts the third most densely populated state in the entire country, and the 14th most populated state in the US, despite its small size.
The state has two major metropolitan areas: Greater Boston in the east and the Springfield metropolitan area in the west. Approximately 2/3 of the total Massachusetts population lives in Greater Boston, while Western Massachusetts has just one urban area with a good mix of rural areas and college towns. The state is currently the most populous of the six New England states, as well as the fastest growing.”
worldpopulationreview.com/states/massachusetts-population/
And coyote killing contests are still held around the citified areas.
At least this is somewhat good news though – sad that the mother was hit by a car. For wildlife, densely populated human areas are an obstacle course. The few times I have helped wildlife to cross busy traffic areas, it is a fright – and the murderous expressions of the cars that don’t like to be slowed down for anything, living or not:
https://www.wcvb.com/article/coyote-pup-rescued-after-mother-is-hit-killed-by-car-while-crossing-road-near-suffolk-downs/27412531?utm_campaign=WCVB&utm_content=5cd38622cdfcb10001a3f942&utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=trueAnthem%3A+New+Content+%28Feed%29
I was almost hit by by single-minded, mindless traffic in Las Vegas when I ventured out to save a dove who was stuck in a “lane” of the insanity.
^^drivers, I should have written. But there are a few good people out there who hold up traffic for wildlife too. 🙂