Oregon Wild supporters helped us achieve a BIG WIN in the face of animal cruelty.
On September 15th, the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission made a historic decision to end needless animal suffering by banning wildlife killing contests within their authority! That means that the unanimous vote marks the end of these cruel and unscientific derbies on Oregon’s public lands for coyotes and other species classified as unprotected mammals. While the contests can still happen on private lands, this is an important step. Oregon is now the ninth state to institute such a ban.
According to the Oregon Capitol Chronicle, “The vote followed testimony from more than 40 people, a majority supporting the ban. They included hunters like Michael Finley, former chair of the Wildlife Commission. He said the contests were antithetical to the concepts of sportsmanship and fair chase.”
These killing contests involve shooting or trapping as many coyotes or other wildlife as possible for cash or prizes. Not only are these contests outright cruel, inhumane, and wasteful but studies have shown that afterward coyote reproduction rates actually increase!
“This should have happened years ago, but we applaud the commission for taking an important first step to ban these unethical killing contests,” said Erik Fernandez, wilderness program manager for Oregon Wild, based in Bend.
