August 30, 2024
Media Contacts: info@projectcoyote.org, 415.326.4110
Project Coyote Announces New Campaign to Ban Wildlife Killing Contests in Michigan
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, Project Coyote announced a new campaign aimed at ending wildlife killing contests across Michigan. Wildlife killing contests are organized events during which participants compete for cash or prizes by killing the most, the largest or the smallest animals over a certain period of time. Each year thousands of wild carnivores and other wildlife—including coyotes, foxes, bobcats, raccoons, and numerous other species—are killed during these cruel, senseless competitions.
“As a native Michigander and lifelong advocate for wild nature, I’m appalled that these cruel and barbaric contests are still occurring within our state in the 21st century,” said Carol Misseldine, Project Coyote Michigan State Representative. “Over the coming months, we’ll be growing this new campaign to raise awareness about wildlife killing contests across Michigan. Our goal is to inform and engage Michiganders about the cruelty and ecological harm caused by these events, fostering a deeper understanding of the need for compassionate conservation of our state’s wildlife.”
Opposition to wildlife killing contests continues to grow as awareness of these events builds, with national polling showing that 80% of Americans oppose them. Ten states—Arizona, California, Colorado, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Vermont and Washington—have already outlawed wildlife killing contests within their borders. In Illinois, legislation (HB 2900), championed by Assemblymember Anna Moeller (D-43rd District) to prohibit killing contests statewide, passed the Illinois House of Representatives earlier this year. Project Coyote has been actively supporting this campaign, including with billboards along the Interstate 55 corridor (in Logan and Montgomery Counties) urging an end to these events.
In Michigan, Project Coyote has identified at least twenty-eight known contests in the state targeting wildlife species, including coyotes, bobcats, and foxes. However, more contests likely occur across the state. It is difficult to assess how many contests occur statewide because organizers and participants are aware that the public does not condone or support these events, and therefore, they operate mostly in secret, with virtual check-ins and little oversight.
“Scientific evidence shows that wildlife killing contests have no ecological, conservation, or management value,” said Renee Seacor, Carnivore Conservation Director at Project Coyote. “These events are driven solely by the desire to kill as many wild animals as possible, reflecting a deep disregard for wild lives. Such practices not only demonstrate and promote cruelty but also risk escalating conflicts with wildlife and disrupting the essential ecological processes that sustain healthy and resilient ecosystems.”
In 2024, one of the state’s largest wildlife killing contests, The Great Lakes Region Predator Challenge, resulted in 235 dead coyotes and foxes. The indiscriminate and widespread killing of wild carnivores occuring at contests such as these disregards the ecological worth of these species and perpetuates ecological destruction and wastefulness. These contests overlook the essential role that Michigan’s wildlife, like coyotes and foxes, serve in controlling rodent and small mammal populations—a critical service as Michigan grapples with an unprecedented surge in tick-borne diseases like Lyme disease. According to Cathy Wesley, a naturalist at the Johnson Nature Center in Bloomfield Township, coyotes in the area primarily consume rodents (over 40% of their diet), thereby helping to regulate local rodent populations and indirectly reduce disease transmission.
These contests also disregard wild animals’ intrinsic worth and perpetuate senseless violence toward wildlife. Michigan’s Luzerne Area Predator Round-up provides cruel awards for categories such as “ugliest predator” or “tri-fecta” which is awarded to those that are able to kill all three target species: coyote, fox, and bobcat.
The momentum to ban wildlife killing contests in Michigan has already begun with both the Washtenaw and Kalamazoo County’s Board of Commissioners taking significant steps in 2021 by passing resolutions opposing wildlife killing contests. It’s now time for the entire state to follow the example of these two counties and end cruel and ecologically destructive wildlife killing contests statewide.
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