It’s time to end ineffective and inhumane wildlife-killing contests

The Nevada Board of Wildlife Commissioners did the right thing recently in directing staff to draft a regulation that would ban wildlife-killing contests in the state.

That move, which came during the board’s March 20 hearing, set up a vote by the board on the proposed regulation once it is written, likely this summer.

The board should act as quickly as it can to approve the regulation and halt these barbaric slaughters, in which participants kill as many animals as they can — most often coyotes — within a set time frame for cash and prizes. Other Southwestern states, including California, Arizona and New Mexico, have banned them in recent years.

Sadly, though, while eliminating such an inhumane activity might sound like a foregone conclusion given the trend around us and the abject cruelty of the contests, it’s far from certain the ban will pass. The vote on drafting the regulation was 5-4 after a contentious hearing that drew staunch supporters and opponents of the contests.

We applaud the board members who voted to move forward on the issue, and we urge them to stand firm.

“This is the most traction wildlife advocates have ever had on this issue in this state, and there is optimism that perhaps, finally, Nevada can join the 21st century and ban these barbaric contests,” wrote Patrick Donnelly, Nevada state director of the Center for Biological Diversity, in a newsletter.

Amen to that.

These contests are not a form of sport but rather of bloodlust, with hunters often using wounded-animal calls to draw out animals and then shoot them with rifles equipped with long-range telescopic sights. Generally, the carcasses are then counted or weighed and then simply thrown away. Wildlife advocates say some contests feature children’s divisions.

Let’s state what should be obvious here: Wildlife management is a complicated matter and flatly should exclude wholesale slaughter such as these contests. What’s more, all of our wildlife policies with regard to predators need to be carefully analyzed because the de-predation of North America is bringing a host of other problems associated with overpopulation of prey. Under any circumstances, wildlife management should be left to pros who are accountable to the public, not contest organizers taking advantage of lax policy.

While supporters of the killfests claim the events help reduce the predation of livestock and pets by coyotes and other wild animals, experts say that’s not only incorrect but is 180 degrees wrong. When packs of animals are killed, others simply move in to take their place or, in the case of coyotes, speed up their reproduction cycles. Meanwhile, for reasons that aren’t entirely known, when coyote packs lose adult members, they often turn from their normal diet — think rodents, rabbits and other small animals — to larger and more protein-packed animals such as sheep.

Between the relentless drought and the effects of climate change, such as the heightened risk of wildfires, wildlife in Nevada is increasingly on the brink and needs all the protections it can get. Meanwhile, holding these contests is a mark of shame for any civilized society, including Nevada. We need to relegate them to the dark room of history that contains buffalo eradication and baby seal clubbing.

Assuming the draft regulation doesn’t contain any unwelcome surprises but legitimately bans the contests, the wildlife board should approve it.