Prizes and inducements can no longer be awarded for nongame wildlife-killing contests in California. Photo by Shawn McCready, on Flickr
Statewide ban in California and victories in Idaho and Oregon spur hope for nationwide predator management reform
Wildlife-killing contests in the United States go by many different names, including wildlife derbies, predator-hunting contests, coyote calling contests, and coyote drives. But whatever the name, and wherever they are held, these contests come down to the same basic principle: Hunting animals for entertainment, with prizes for the top killers.
Recently, the prize-for-killing mentality has come under increasing scrutiny, and in early December, wildlife activists won a key victory when the California Fish and Game Commission announced that “prizes and inducements” can no longer be awarded for nongame wildlife-killing contests in the state. The policy change makes California the first state to enact such a ban.
The California prohibition follows a nearly two-year effort by environmental advocates to reform the commission’s predator management policy. The campaign honed in on one particular wildlife-killing contest in northern California, known as the Modoc Coyote Drive, raising concerns not only for public safety and ethics, but also for the safety of OR-7, the first wolf to show up in California in 87 years, who was traversing in the region at the time.
Pointing out that OR-7 was protected under the federal Endangered Species Act, environmental groups, including Project Coyote, an Earth Island Institute project that works to change negative perceptions about predator species, petitioned the commission not only to stop the Modoc County killing contest, but also to ban nongame wildlife-killing contests statewide. During the rule-making process, the commission received thousands of letters and petitions in support of the ban, and on December 3, it voted 4 to 1 to end such contests in California.
“Awarding prizes for wildlife-killing contests is both unethical and inconsistent with our modern understanding of natural systems,” Michael Sutton, president of the commission, said after the vote. “Such contests are an anachronism and have no place in modern wildlife management.” It isn’t yet clear when the ban will be implemented.
The victory in California follows closely on the heels of another win in Idaho, this one involving a wolf and coyote-hunting contest on public lands managed by the United States Forest Service (USFS) and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). Seven conservation groups, including Project Coyote, the Center for Biological Diversity and the Western Environmental Law Center, filed two separate lawsuits against the federal agencies last year to stop the hunt. In November, the BLM revoked the permit for the predator-killing contest. “Our hope with that decision by the BLM is that it will set a precedent for the nation for contests on BLM land,” says Camilla Fox, founder of Project Coyote.
Despite the BLM’s change of heart, the contest is still scheduled to take place on USFS land in January 2015. And the event sponsor, ironically named Idaho for Wildlife, is standing by the hunt, extolling the predator management benefits for ranchers. “Does this mean that Idaho For Wildlife can tell hunters not to travel and hunt on BLM land?” Idaho For Wildlife asks on its website. “Absolutely not! All this means is that any predators taken on BLM land during the contest period cannot be entered into the competitive hunting event to win prizes or cash.”
“We believe that both the forest service and the BLM have an obligation to take a closer look at these events from a public interest standpoint and make sure these are the kinds of events that are appropriate on our public lands,” says Laura King, an attorney with the Western Environmental Law Center. “We don’t’ think that they are appropriate on our public lands. We think that they are disrespectful to wildlife, we think they are a hazard from a public safety standpoint, and we really think that the federal government needs to take a close look at those issues, as well as at the broader issue of wolf recovery and respect for predators on the landscape.”
In a third victory for wildlife advocates this year, Project Coyote and the Animal Legal Defense Fund enjoyed a win in Oregon in June, successfully challenging what Fox called “one of the largest coyote kill fests in Oregon” under the state’s gambling laws.
Despite this winning streak, there is still a long way to go when it comes to stopping wildlife-killing contests and reforming predator management policy in the United States. So far, Project Coyote has identified hundreds of wildlife-killing derbies targeting coyotes, bobcats, foxes, crows, ravens, marmots, and prairie dogs, among other species, across the country. The organization believes that thousands of such contests take place every year. The species targeted in these hunts, which are classified as non-game animals, are typically left unmonitored and unprotected by the states, making them especially vulnerable to ranchers and hunters.
But advocates aren’t giving up. “I think like dog fighting and cockfighting, we are going to see a ban on this immoral, unethical, ecologically unsound practice,” says Fox. “And my hope is that in my generation we see that nationwide ban.”
Visit Project Coyote’s website to take action on predator management reform.
Originally reported by Zoe Loftus-Farren in Earth Island Journal on December 16, 2014.
