This alert is no longer active, but here for reference. Animals still need your help.

Gruesome wildlife killing contests that award hunters cash and prizes for killing wild animals are still legal in more than 40 states — including Virginia. Tragically, hundreds of animals, such as coyotes, foxes, and bobcats, are massacred in the state during these events. Urge the Virginia Board of Wildlife Resources to put an end to barbaric wildlife killing contests!

Contest participants often use various cruel tactics, such as playing electronic sounds of injured coyotes to lure out concerned coyotes before killing them. Afterward, participants are given prizes based on the sizes of the animals they slaughtered or the number of animals killed within a specified time period. Participants then carelessly discard the bodies of the dead animals. The cycle of this heartless competition needs to be stopped! Please act now and support this ban!

Virginia is known for its healthy ecosystems, but the mass killing of predators negatively impacts them and throws populations of many species out of balance. The murders of these animals can also leave their offspring abandoned and forced to experience harsh conditions such as being exposed to predators and starving to death. Inhumane and unethical killing contests should not be continued as an ineffective means of “population control.”

Right now, the Virginia Board of Wildlife Resources is considering a rule that would ban contests targeting coyotes, and other fur-bearing animals, including beavers, bobcats, fishers, foxes, mink, muskrats, opossums, otters, raccoons, skunks, and weasels.

This alert is no longer active, but here for reference. Animals still need your help.