About time To end wildlife “Killing Contests”

As a former hunter I have no problem at all anybody who’s an old-school hunter. What I oppose are exotic trophy hunts and what are what is known as “wildlife killing contests” on public lands.

This week more than 15 members of Congress introduced legislation that would prohibit “organizing, sponsoring, conducting, or participating in wildlife killing contests” on more than 500 million acres of U.S. public lands.

The Prohibit Wildlife Killing Contests Act of 2022, whose introduction was led by Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.), would require the Bureau of Land Management, Bureau of Reclamation, National Park Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and U.S. Forest Service to enact regulations banning wildlife killing contests within a year. Eight states — Arizona, California, Colorado, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Mexico, Vermont, and Washington — have already outlawed these events within their borders.

Wildlife killing contests are organized competitive events in which participants compete for cash or prizes by killing the most, the largest, or sometimes the smallest animals over a certain time period. Each year thousands of important native carnivores and other wildlife — including coyotes, foxes, bobcats, mountain lions, prairie dogs and even wolves — are killed during these competitions.

Jim Shields is the Mendocino County Observer’s editor and publisher, observer@pacific.net, the long-time district manager of the Laytonville County

Water District, and is also chairman of the Laytonville Area Municipal Advisory Council. Listen to his radio program “This and That” every Saturday at noon on KPFN

105.1 FM, also streamed live: http://www.kpfn.org