My Email to Mayor Gates of Kingman Arizona

​Dear Mayor Gates,


It is my understanding that the Big O Coyote Hunt will take place this weekend involving the slaughter of hundreds of animals including foxes, coyotes, bobcats, and mountain lions. Upon first reading that there were points allocated to the specific animals, I almost thought of this to be some kind of joke until I investigated further. I am appalled and horrified at the idea that a community would engage in this sort of activity in the name of fun. There is a perverse nature to any kind of sport where someone gets off on taking the life of a living creature that simply wants to live. All of these animals have complex personalities and relationships that will cease after this weekend if this horrendous activity is permitted to commence.


Humans have a salacious need to demonstrate their dominance over other species. This salacious desire is the exact reason animals like elephants, giraffes, lions, leopards, rhinos, and orcas, currently face the risk of extinction. If we continue to promote these sorts of activities as fun, we will see the end of some of the most majestic species that have ever walked our planet. Promoting slaughter in the name of fun is the opposite of the morals and ethics we should be instilling in the children who are our future. There is nothing fun about shooting animals and leaving them horrified and in fear if not already dead, until the moment they are finished off. For goodness sake, I beg of you to reconsider this event before 100's of animals are left to die in the worst circumstances. There is absolutely nothing humane about killing a living creature that doesn't want to die and I hope that you too will agree that our future must promote love and respect of all living beings as opposed to a future that promotes violence, bloodshed, and torture in the name of perverted fun.


Sincerely,


Jonathan Charbonneau