Wildlife killing contests are gruesome events, in which participants compete to kill some of the most persecuted animals on the North American continent, including swift foxes (pictured above), for cash and prizes. Photo by Robert Harding/Alamy Stock Photo

Colorado has closed a loophole in its law to end all wildlife killing contests of furbearing animals, including coyotes, bobcats, swift foxes and prairie dogs.

Although the state had already banned most such contests in 1997, a regulatory loophole permitted some events that limited the numbers of animals killed to continue. This meant that contests like the “High Desert Coyote Classic,” the “Song Dog Coyote Hunt,” a youth-centered “Prairie Dog Shoot” and the “Four Corners Predator Callers Predator Hunt,” which allowed the killing of five animals per person, could go on.

The Humane Society of the United States has made it our mission to end all…