While California may be one of the most progressive states in terms of animal rights, there's a subculture that exists within the Western state where marksmen find that wildlife is their main target. Organized coyote hunts, where legal, are sparking a clash between wildlife advocates and anti-coyote interest groups, and marksmen are making money off of the deaths of these key landscape species.
The derbies awards shooters who rack up the largest number of body bags with up to $500 in prizes, including camouflage hunting gear and rifles to boot. But California wildlife advocates are putting up a formidable fight against the hunters, and California Fish and Game Commission announced Wednesday, Dec. 3 that they are considering banning prize hunts for coyotes, which can be killed year-round without a limit to their dwindling numbers.
Though the ban would be the first of its kind in the nation, according to executive director Camilla Fox of conservation advocates Project Coyote, many organizations are hopeful to see that change will be enacted after dozens of petitions have been made on the coyotes' behalf.
"We should ban wildlife-killing contests for the same reasons [we ban dog and cock fighting]" Fox says. "It's immoral, reprehensible and something that should be part of our history books."
While other canids receive extreme protection in the western United States, coyote hunting happens in most states across the country with no bag limits, representative for the Center for Biological Diversity, Noah Greenwald says. The highly adaptable wolf-like species are often viewed as a threat by farmers and ranch owners whose cattle falls under their prey.
Though conservation advocates insist that the top-tier predators, who play an integral part in maintaining the biodiversity and ecological dynamics within a niche environment, are not a species to be hunted because they are neither considered food nor trophy species and are simply murdered for sport, anti-wolf groups insist that coyotes are a pest and predators that should be controlled in numbers.
"We're not just focused on the one weekend hunt" president of the Pit River Rod and Gun Club, who spearhead the Madoc County hunting competition, Buck Parks says. "We're focused on trying to encourage folks to get out and help manage these predators by hunting them."
