Washington Bans Wildlife Killing Contests

​worldanimalnews.com/victory-washington-becomes-the-seventh-state-to-ban-cruel-wildlife-killing-contests/

Washington has joined 6 other states across the United States in officially banning wildlife killing contests. This spells the end of a "sport" that is undeniably cruel in nature and rewards humans for mass slaughter. Ending the wildlife killing contests will spare thousands of coyotes, crows, foxes, bobcats and raccoons from being slaughtered after a price tag is attached to their livelihoods. 

These horrific contests are nothing more than an excuse for bloodthirsty humans to run around putting bullets in anything they can find. People of all ages come together to participate in these timed hunts where they are sent out to kill as many animals as possible within the allotted time frame. Animals are given a points value based on size and at the end of the competition, the human with the most points takes home the prize money and recognition they so desperately desire.  

It's a pretty disturbing thing to imagine piles upon piles of animal corpses scattered around as humans run around happily looking for their next victim. I can't say this enough but this is not a sport, this is merely labelled as a sport to detract attention away from the fact that there are this many people who find it acceptable to shoot and kill animals for the sake of fun. Unlike hunting for meat, this is quite literally a sport that rewards you for slaughtering predatory animals. There is no use for these animals after they are killed making these contests especially exploitative in nature.

These contests have long been scrutinized by activists for portraying mass slaughter of animals as a sport. These sports' organizers would like you to believe that these contests help to thin out predatory animal populations allowing for continued population growth of deer which benefits hunters also. Unfortunately, evidence suggests that killing predators really doesn't do anything in managing their populations and can in fact force these animals to rapidly produce babies to repopulate. Not to mention that the loss of these predators allows for the continued population growth of rabbits and rodents which leads to a higher tick-borne disease transmission.

Ultimately, these contests do nothing aside from stroking the egos of horrible people who are willing to turn their backs on compassion and ethics in order to win cash prizes. To think that there are hundreds of people in every state that not only support these contests but willingly participate in them shows that as a human race, we still have a very long way to go on our path towards recognizing animal sentience and treating animals with respect and dignity. It was never up to us to manage their populations or determine which animals should live or die. We have given ourselves far too much power and allowed ourselves to believe that we have the right to manipulate the planet's animals in order to benefit us. We have put ourselves above all else which is the reason we are experiencing a mass extinction.

It's time to end these contests once and for all. There is simply no argument in defense of these atrocious contests. There is no argument in defense of barging in to their territory with weapons shooting as many animals as possible. We should be ashamed for out participation in these horrific contests. It's time for the US to ban these contests across the board.

HAPPY VEG