What is wrong with the state of Nevada this week? Why are some people there so goddamned afraid of coyotes that they’ll not only commit random killings for me to find on my birthday hike, but sponsor sociopathic “contests” to see who can commit the most depraved acts against them?
I’m not talking about hunting in general. And I’m not talking about shooting an individual coyote for prowling around your chicken coop. The coyotes The Raven and I found at Wee Thump Wilderness on Monday were many miles from the nearest vulnerable livestock. And the upcoming contest in Fallon, to which Camilla Fox of Project Coyote has sent along an alert, will not protect livestock either — in fact, due to disruption of coyote social structures, a hunt like this is more likely to increase predation on livestock, as pups grow up without their parents’ hard-earned knowledge and guidance, and removal of the lead couple in a family group increases the number of breeding pairs.
These killings are motivated by hate and fear, plain and simple.
I’ll use a risky metaphor: comparing our treatment of animals to human abuse of other humans is fraught with opportunities for offense, of trivializing human suffering and bestializing groups of people. But in this instance, the motivations are the same, the display of the corpses and the gloating is the same, the rationalizations are too eerily similar to be discounted:
these are lynchings.
Camilla’s alert follows. Please call.
ACTION ALERT
SPEAK OUT AGAINST COYOTE KILLING CONTEST IN NEVADA
A coyote killing tournament is scheduled for this weekend- January 8-10- around Fallon, Nevada. The contest, organized by “local hunters” was advertised on Craigslist. The ad, which has since flagged for removal, listed the contest as:
COYOTE TOURNAMENT (Fallon)
_____________________________
Jan 8-10, 2010
48-Hour Coyote Tournament
$30 per person / 2-3 person teams
$100 Calcutta (optional)
$20 Big Dog / $20 Little Dog
For more info call: Matt (775) 835-2575
Prizes are to be awarded for those who kill both the most coyotes and the largest individuals. Judges will insert a temperature probe into the dead coyotes’ livers to verify they were actually killed during the tournament. Ethics aside, random coyote killing will not reduce real or perceived conflicts with livestock, as tournament organizers claim. A copious and growing body of literature shows that coyote population reduction efforts through lethal control are futile, given the species’ resiliency and ability to biologically rebound.
WHAT YOU CAN DO:
1- Contact the Fallon Chamber of Commerce and express your concern about this wanton killing of coyotes. Points to convey:
- As a Chamber of Commerce, they should not support blood sports that exhibit a blatant disregard for wildlife and the integrity of ecosystems by encouraging mass killing for prizes.
- Let them know that you believe that this contest hunt is ethically indefensible, ecologically reckless, and counter to sound scientific wildlife management.
- Coyote killing contests are a totally ineffective management strategy given the species’ resiliency and ability to biologically rebound.
- Tell them coyotes and other carnivores play an important ecological role and that there are many effective, ecologically sound and humane methods of protecting livestock from native carnivores including livestock guard dogs and llamas, better fencing, and night corrals.
Contact information:
Greater Fallon Area Chamber of Commerce
85 N. Taylor Street
Fallon, NV 89406
Phone: 775.423.2544
Fax: 775.423.0540
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
www.fallonchamber.com
2- Please also contact Fallon Mayor Ken Tedford Jr. and urge him to call off the coyote tournament:
Mayor Ken Tedford, Jr.
City Hall
55 W. Williams Avenue
Fallon, NV 89406
(775) 423-0167 OR
(775) 423-6877
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
3- Post a comment on the Reno Gazette-Journal’s website in response to an article on this issue. Currently the comments are heavily weighted in support of the contest hunt. We need respectful and articulate comments. Go to: http://bit.ly/8qNb7S
4- Submit a letter to the editor to the Reno Gazette-Journal at: http://www.rgj.com/letters
Thank you in advance for your help. Please share this information with family, friends and co-workers.
______________________
Camilla H. Fox
Founding Director, Project Coyote
Jeez!
I’m just now reading this post. Did this thing actually go off then? Any updates?
These killings are motivated by hate and fear, plain and simple.
You forgot IGNORANCE, Chris.
I just now learned of this, so too late to spread the news :(
Ultimately, I blame our government for not affording Canis latrans one shred of protection or respect. These beautiful and clever animals deserve much better.
Camilla Fox has let me know she’s trying to find out some details on the event, which apparently went off as planned.
The tournament advocates have one thing right: this is nothing new. 100,000 coyotes are shot in the US each year, many of them in “sporting” events like this.
Good point about ignorance, Michael, from which the hate and fear spread.
http://www.tsweekly.com/outside/natural-world/the-coyote-and-the-eagle-coyote-hunt-could-have-unintended-consequences.html
I know of a local sporting goods store that has a coyote contest. The prize goes to who can kill the biggest one.
Chris, thank you for this post, for the photographs which I came across at Flickr. I volunteer in wildlife rehabilitation and can’t tell you how many discussions I’ve had with hunters, trying to guide them away from these misguided beliefs about coyotes and other predator animals. I wish I could say I’d been successful. But the callousness I’ve encountered is nearly impossible for me to reconcile. And I wish more so-called ethical hunters would take a stand against these types of practices within their midst. As Michael Gordon suggested above, the lack of official protection for these animals (and so many others) allows for the most egregious abuses by those who have no scruples when it comes to non-human animals.