URGENT: An amendment has been introduced that would severely undercut a bill that is currently moving to ban coyote killing contests in Vermont. Vermont supporters, your call is needed to your Vermont state Representative to OPPOSE this amendment!
H.636, currently being considered by the House Committee on Natural Resources, Fish & Wildlife but headed to the House floor for debate this Wednesday, February 21 at 1:00 pm ET, would, among other provisions, ban barbaric coyote killing contests in the state. But an amendment to the bill has been offered that would define “coyote-hunting competition” as “an advertised contest that is open to the public in which people compete in the capturing or taking of coyotes for a prize or recognition.”
This dangerous amendment would essentially gut H.636 for the following reasons:
1) It would still allow coyote killing contests to be conducted by private hunting or sportsmen’s clubs;
2) Requiring proof that contests were both advertised and open to the public would greatly complicate enforcement of a ban on such contests;
3) It would create a loophole allowing these contests to continue, since organizers could simply advertise that their contest requires participants to “join” their club first, even if it’s for free or a minimum amount (and many wildlife killing contests already require participants to do just that).
Please make the call before Wednesday, February 21, at 1:00 pm ET, to your Vermont state Representative (find her or him at https://legislature.vermont.gov/people/search/2018), to ask her or him to vote NO on Rep. Willhoit amendment’s to H.636 that defines “coyote-hunting competition” as “an advertised contest that is open to the public ….”
When you call, you can say, “I am calling regarding H.636, a bill to ban coyote killing contests in Vermont. I am asking you to please vote NO on Rep. Willhoit’s amendment to H.636, which would gut this important legislation by allowing private hunting or sportsmen’s clubs to continue these cruel and pointless coyote killing contests in Vermont. Please support H.636 AS WRITTEN, without Rep. Willhoit’s amendment.”
Thank you for making the call to protect Vermont’s coyotes from cruel killing contests!
