Coyote Killing Contest in Ontario prompts Lawsuits

​toronto.citynews.ca/2022/03/06/ontario-lawsuit-coyote-hunting-contest/

A coyote killing contest that took place earlier in the year has prompted animal advocacy groups to sue the province of Ontario for breaking its own laws. In Ontario, it is illegal to promote the slaughter of an animal for a bounty or cash prize and the organization that put it together did exactly that. Despite the contest having moved ahead, the advocacy groups intend to prevent the competition from ever occurring within the province again.

The lawsuit stems from an event held by Chesher's Outdoor Sport in Belleville, Ontario. The coyote killing event described prizes being issued for the 5 heaviest coyotes slaughtered along with other various weight related prizes. Participants essentially pay a measly $20 to enter and are encouraged to kill coyotes in hopes of winning the biggest prizes. The lawsuit points out that the event was actually breaking a very clear law that states putting bounties on animals as illegal. The event had to reword the advertisement but the event went ahead as planned despite outcries from activists.

Chesher's Outdoor Sport has refused to comment on the lawsuit or situation claiming they were advised not to speak. They also claim they've received hate mail / threatening mail since news broke of the event being held. Go figure, not everyone is on board with people haphazardly running around shooting animals for sport.

There are several things wrong with these sorts of contests, but it all starts with the contest itself. First of all, $20 is such an insulting and insignificant amount of money to be permitted to run around and shoot coyotes. It's incredibly degrading to think that we value the lives of these animals so very little that some pocket change will allow us the opportunity to shoot and kill several of them. Secondly, any kind of "sport" that promotes endless slaughter for prizes is so degrading and sends out the message that animal lives are worth nothing. Lastly, where the contest took place was extremely close to the endangered Algonquin wolves which reportedly look and act quite similar to coyotes. This contest was illegal and put endangered species at risk.

There is an assault on predatory animals happening on our planet and we will suffer tremendously if we eradicate our planet's carnivorous species. When we remove predatory animals from an ecosystem, naturally, prey animals will become abundant. An ecosystem depends on balance and when plant-eating animals become abundant, it can wreak havoc on the plant / fauna life. What then happens is we permit ourselves to slaughter prey animals to control the growth. Ultimately, our cycle of manipulation will never stop as we try to control the balance of the ecosystem that would have been just fine had we not meddled with it. If we stay out of things, they work out on their own, but when we start to manipulate the animal kingdom, we can never stop because we cannot undo the damage we have done.

I truly hope the lawsuits prevent this contest from ever taking place in our province again. We must shift our attitude and perspectives on animals because our current mentality is pushing them towards extinction. 

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HAPPY VEG