Some fights to protect animals turn out to be uphill battles that last for years, requiring a steadfast determination, resilience and consistency in advocacy, argumentation and campaigning. This has proven to be the case with banning wildlife killing contests in some parts of the country. Thankfully, our teams have shown they’ve got the strength to sustain the fight to end these spectacles as part of creating a safer and more compassionate world.
In late September, our Nevada state director Rebecca Goff delivered a presentation in support of a ban on wildlife killing contests to a committee of the state’s Board of Wildlife Commissioners. She shared the results from our recent bipartisan poll that found an astonishing 71% of Nevada residents—across gender, Congressional district, political party, and ideological lines—agree that the Board should ban killing contests.
Marc Ayers/The HSUS
Nevada residents: Help ban wildlife killing contests in your state.
Rebecca also quoted from a set of widely accepted hunting guidelines that wildlife may only be killed for “a legitimate, non-frivolous purpose.” She then played a video clip from our 2023 undercover investigation of two wildlife killing contests in Nevada. The committee and audience watched as contest participants cut slits in the legs of dead coyotes to hang and weigh them for cash and prizes, with one gleefully exclaiming “The blood will flow!” as it drained into a gutter. And when asked why he takes part in the contests, another participant replied, “Being able to shoot as many as I f**** want. And kill s***. The itch to kill something. Better than people.”
In the stunned silence that followed, Rebecca asked the committee, “Can anyone at all, with a straight face, refer to this type of behavior as killing for ‘a legitimate, non-frivolous purpose’?”
At least 15 wildlife killing contests take place each year across Nevada, in which participants compete for cash and prizes over one or two days to kill the most, the largest or even the smallest native species like coyotes, bobcats and foxes. Many of the contests even allow sports-style betting on the participants themselves.
There is so much incontrovertible evidence in support of a ban, backed by copious peer-reviewed biological and social science and government data. There is a long list of quotes from wildlife professionals and scientists in Nevada and across the nation, stating that wildlife killing contests serve no legitimate wildlife management purpose, do not prevent conflicts with livestock or increase numbers of deer or elk for human hunters, and are inflicting irreparable damage on the reputation of hunters. The knowledge that many hunters oppose wildlife killing contests has been a chief motivation for other state commissions around the country that have banned these events.
Unfortunately, in the face of all that, the committee only proposed yet more meetings, so that killing contest organizers could be given yet another chance to defend these events.
For at least a decade, Nevada’s wildlife advocates, scientists, veterinarians, wildlife rehabilitators, animal care professionals, responsible hunters and concerned citizens have tirelessly appealed for a ban on wildlife killing contests. Yet Nevada’s officials have done nothing but delay, perhaps with the hope that if they ignore this issue long enough, it will go away.
But it is most definitely not going to go away. We are determined to keep up the pressure to ensure it does not. Ten U.S. states—including nearly all of Nevada’s neighbors in the West—now prohibit killing contests, and several more are poised to do so. The public has now seen ample evidence of the horrors of killing contests in Nevada, with our investigation footage even featured in Rolling Stone’s recent exposé.
If Nevada seeks to maintain its standing as an inviting and entertaining vacation destination, allowing these gruesome, violent contests to continue is a losing gamble.
The Nevada Board of Wildlife Commissioners must heed the wishes of the state’s residents by taking decisive action to ban wildlife killing contests once and for all. If you are a Nevada resident, urge the Nevada Board of Wildlife Commissioners to ban wildlife killing contests.
Follow Kitty Block @HSUSKittyBlock.
