COYOTE PHOTO CONTEST AIMS TO HELP END
WILDLIFE KILLING CONTESTS!
To emphasize how we can appreciate the intrinsic value of coyotes in nature without killing them for a trophy, Project Coyote has created a unique Coyote Photographing Contest in New Mexico. The contest will serve as a model for the nation—a family-friendly competition offering fun and prizes without the grotesque violence and suffering that wildlife killing contests promote.
Although entries are open to New Mexico residents only, everyone can help make a difference by sponsoring the contest. To do so, please donate here and specify “NM Photo Contest” in the Comments field. Your support will allow us to offer additional prizes, increasing the appeal of shooting coyotes with a camera instead of a gun—and further detracting from any perceived benefits of participating in a wildlife killing contest. Please see below for ways you can help.
The New Mexico Coyote Photographing Contest will help raise awareness about wildlife killing contests that coyotes and other wildlife suffer from in New Mexico and beyond.
Following the positive outcome of the mid-term elections throughout the country, Project Coyote and allies are seizing the opportunity to enact bans on coyote killing contests and certain trophy hunting/trapping practices in New Mexico and other states in 2019. To further support this effort, we are hosting screenings of our award-winning documentary KILLING GAMES ~ Wildlife In The Crosshairs in several cities in New Mexico (including Albuquerque on January 12) and across the nation. More information to come!
Thank you for helping us create a more compassionate world for all creatures.
Joe Newman
Project Coyote Creative Associate
HOW YOU CAN HELP
EVERYONE: SPONSOR AND FOLLOW THE COYOTE PHOTOGRAPHY CONTEST!
- Donate here, specifying “NM Photo Contest” in the Comments field.
- Follow the contest on Facebook here.
- Find out more about the event here.
NEW MEXICO RESIDENTS: SUBMIT YOUR COYOTE PHOTOS
AND SPREAD THE WORD!
- Entry is free!
- Coyote photographs may be taken anywhere, but the entrants for the coyote photographing contest must live in New Mexico. Entrants have until December 15, 2018, to submit their photographs to be eligible for cash and other awards–$250 for first place, $150 for second place, and $100 for third place in each category (Youth, Student, Amateur, Professional and Senior).
- Contestants are invited to submit up to three of their favorite coyote images celebrating peaceful coexistence and the beauty of this remarkable indigenous species.
- For an entry form, contact: jnewman@projectcoyote.org.
FAST FACTS
- California and Vermont have already banned the killing of coyotes and other wildlife for prizes and fun.
- Coyote killing contests are conducted for profit, entertainment, prizes, and simply for the “fun” of killing.
- No evidence exists showing that indiscriminate killing contests serve any effective wildlife management function. Coyote populations that are not hunted or trapped form stable family groups that naturally limit populations. Indiscriminate killing of coyotes disrupts this social stability, resulting in increased reproduction and pup survival.
- Coyotes play an important ecological role helping to maintain healthy ecosystems and species diversity. As the top carnivore in some ecosystems, coyotes provide many benefits including providing free rodent control and regulating the number of mesocarnivores (such as skunks, raccoons, and foxes), which in turn helps to boost ground and song bird abundance and biodiversity.
- Coyote killing contests perpetuate a culture of violence and send the message to children that life has little value and that animals are disposable.
- Killing as many animals as possible conflicts with traditional fair-chase hunting values and contravenes science-based wildlife conservation principles and practices.
PLEASE SEE PROJECT COYOTE’S WILDLIFE KILLING CONTEST FACT SHEET FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION.
Watch a 60-second trailer of Project Coyote’s documentary film, KILLING GAMES ~ Wildlife In The Crosshairs, here.