Oregon ends wildlife killing contests; New York poised to do the same

By Kitty Block

By on September 27, 2023 with 0 Comments

Earlier this month, the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission voted unanimously to pass a rule to ban wildlife killing contests targeting coyotes and other animals in the state. In Oregon and elsewhere, we’ve been putting the bright light of scrutiny on these organized events, in which participants compete to kill the most and/or the largest animals in a specified time, vying for prizes such as cash or hunting equipment.

We worked hard for this one, for more than four years. To make it happen, we built a grand coalition, bringing together diverse stakeholders including more than 20 animal and conservation organizations, scientists, wildlife rehabilitators, veterinarians, wildlife management professionals, hunters and sympathetic farmers and ranchers. This show of unity sent the message that Oregonians from all walks of life would no longer tolerate such wanton cruelty. 

The battle began with our undercover investigation of a killing contest in Hines, Oregon, in 2018. There, in addition to the heartless slaughter of the targeted animals, we documented participants tossing dead coyotes from trucks onto the blood-soaked ground, dragging animals onto a scale to be weighed, and even using a dead coyote as a puppy’s play toy. Our exposé blew the lid off the secrecy that had shielded this underground activity for so long, and our campaign brought the full depravity of killing contests into public view.  

Our coalition then took the campaign to the legislature, flooding lawmakers’ offices with phone calls and emails from the public in support of a bill to end the killing. Political machinations sank the measure, so we pivoted to another approach. Late last year, we brought a petition to the Fish and Wildlife Commission, asking its members to ban killing contests. The commission voted to table the petition but directed the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife to draft a proposed rule to prohibit contests. We then motivated thousands of Oregonians to contact the commission in support and encouraged citizens from a broad array of backgrounds to testify at a Sept. 15 hearing. Following the commission’s vote that day, we celebrated as Oregon became the ninth state to ban killing contests. 

We’re in hot pursuit of the 10th state as I write. Earlier this summer and 3,000 miles across the country, the New York state legislature passed a bipartisan bill (A.2917/S.4099) to end killing contests in the Empire State. This measure had been introduced in every legislative session since 2006, but we broke the logjam with an undercover investigation in 2018 and again in 2020, this time at the state’s largest killing contest in Sullivan County. New Yorkers, shocked that a small subset of the population was slaughtering the state’s coyotes, bobcats, foxes, squirrels, crows and other species at scale for cash and prizes, contacted their state legislators by the thousands.  

As in Oregon, we worked for years to mobilize and gather support from a large group of allies —including farmers, hunters, veterinarians, wildlife rehabilitators and carnivore experts. Animal advocates wrote to their legislators, submitted letters to the editor of their local newspapers, and urged their family and friends to do the same. It was a time-honored approach, and just the right one for creating change in this instance. 

But to seal the deal in New York, we must convince Gov. Kathy Hochul to sign the bill into law. New York residents can act right now to respectfully encourage Gov. Hochul to put New York on the map with states that have rid themselves of an embarrassing and degrading form of cruelty that serves no legitimate wildlife management purpose whatsoever.

The campaign to end wildlife killing contests is a big fight, the kind the Humane Society of the United States was founded to take on and to win. It is a fight that needs to be carried out state-to-state, across the whole country, as we did in our campaigns to secure felony-level penalties for animal fighting and animal cruelty in every single state. As those fights did, it will take a few years to get there. But we hope to add four or five states—including Illinois, Nevada, New Jersey and Virginia—in the next two years, and we won’t rest until there are no states willing to host these brutal spectacles. Please lend your voice to this compelling cause—visit humanesociety.org/wildlifekillingcontests to learn more. 

Follow Kitty Block @HSUSKittyBlock.

HSUS team helps to rescue dogs in northeast Louisiana

By on September 25, 2023 with 6 Comments
HSUS team helps to rescue dogs in northeast Louisiana

Last week, members of our Animal Rescue Team assisted law enforcement authorities with the rescue of more than 20 dogs and puppies from an alleged neglect situation at a residential property in Vidalia, in northeast Louisiana along the Mississippi River. This situation was one of . . . 

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New star-studded push for the Humane Cosmetics Act on Capitol Hill

By on September 21, 2023 with 1 Comment
New star-studded push for the Humane Cosmetics Act on Capitol Hill

We took to the halls of power in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday for a full day of events in support of the Humane Cosmetics Act, H.R. 5399, a bill to end animal-based cosmetics testing in the U.S, usher in a new era of cutting-edge testing . . . 

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Animals need humane-minded voters to act on their behalf. Register now.

By on September 19, 2023 with 2 Comments
Animals need humane-minded voters to act on their behalf. Register now.

In the U.S., today is National Voter Registration Day, which is a chance to recognize and celebrate the potential of our collective role and influence as voters. Now more than ever, our nation needs compassionate, courageous legislators to act in support of animals and to . . . 

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The ‘Greatest Show on Earth’ finally does the greatest thing for animals

By on September 18, 2023 with 11 Comments
The ‘Greatest Show on Earth’ finally does the greatest thing for animals

After being shuttered for six years because of flagging ticket sales and financial troubles, a new kind of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus will kick off a nationwide circus tour this month, this time without a single animal caged, held captive and forced . . . 

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Fur is disappearing from fashion and design culture amid concerns for animals and the environment

By on September 15, 2023 with 7 Comments
Fur is disappearing from fashion and design culture amid concerns for animals and the environment

On the runways at the just-ended New York Fashion Week, there was pink tulle and tattered denim, black mesh and purple fringe, handmade kente cloth and 3D-printed metallic apparel. The Area brand used the opportunity to debut its faux fur gowns with imitation bones and . . . 

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Brutal killing of African elephant highlights need to end trophy hunting

By on September 13, 2023 with 5 Comments
Brutal killing of African elephant highlights need to end trophy hunting

We have just learned about a heartless and illegal hunt that took the life of a male elephant in South Africa’s Limpopo province earlier this month. Here’s what we know at this point: The hunting party consisted of a trophy hunting client, a hunting guide, . . . 

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Ingenious idea aims to decrease human conflict with endangered elephants

By on September 11, 2023 with 2 Comments
Ingenious idea aims to decrease human conflict with endangered elephants

A new way of seeing elephants could help save their lives. That’s the idea behind an innovative pilot project in Dong Nai by Humane Society International and the Viet Nam government that uses images of elephant families from motion-triggered camera traps to catalogue the unique . . . 

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Helping hundreds of families and their animals after Hurricane Idalia

By on September 7, 2023 with 1 Comment
Helping hundreds of families and their animals after Hurricane Idalia

When we learned that Hurricane Idalia would likely make landfall, we identified the best means for us to help care for animals in a potential crisis and support the people who care about them. Fighting the big fights for animals sometimes means exactly this: Being . . . 

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Annual ‘celebration’ highlights the need to stop cruelty to horses

By on September 6, 2023 with 14 Comments
Annual ‘celebration’ highlights the need to stop cruelty to horses

Last week, members of the Humane Society of the United States’ Equine Protection team traveled to Tennessee to evaluate the condition of the horses at the 85th annual Tennessee Walking Horse National Celebration. In the weeks leading up to the show, we posted billboards in . . . 

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Mistreated exotic animals highlight the need for ‘Better CARE’ law

By on August 31, 2023 with 2 Comments
Mistreated exotic animals highlight the need for ‘Better CARE’ law

The mistreatment of animals is a matter of injustice, and so it’s only fitting that the U.S. Department of Justice stepped in to stop cruelty at Even Keel Exotics in Temperance, Michigan. The DOJ’s recent resolution of a complaint against the facility’s owner, animal dealer . . . 

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Scientist advancing alternatives to animal experiments honored with HSUS/HSI award  

By on August 30, 2023 with 0 Comments
Scientist advancing alternatives to animal experiments honored with HSUS/HSI award  

This week, we presented the Russell & Burch Award to Dr. Donald Ingber, a professor at Harvard University and the founding director of the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard. Dr. Ingber is one of the pioneers behind the development of organ-on-a-chip technology, . . . 

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