Assemblymember Linda B. Rosenthal Slams “White Sulphur Springs 12th Annual Coyote Hunt” As Cruel, Demands End To Bounties For Animal Killing Statewide
New York, NY – Assemblymember Linda B. Rosenthal (D/WF-New York), author of many animal protection laws in New York State, today released the following statement condemning the White Sulphur Springs 12th Annual Coyote Hunt, which is being held in New York State and Pennsylvania in February and will offer grand prize winners $2,000 for killing the heaviest coyote.
“Contests that encourage people to kill animals, coyotes or any other, by offering prizes or other inducements, are the epitome of cruelty. This coyote killing contest is not a game of skill – it is a game of glory, designed to satisfy a blood-lust by encouraging people to search out and kill the biggest coyotes they can find. This mass slaughter, which last year resulted in the needless death of more than 600 innocent animals, must end,” said Assemblymember Linda B. Rosenthal.
The contest rules allow coyotes to be “hunted or trapped” to death, and the three-day event will culminate with a banquet and gun raffle.
“While contests of this nature are indefensible on any grounds, trapping animals to death is unnecessarily cruel because they suffer tremendous terror and pain as they wait, stuck in a trap, to be found and ultimately killed,” continued Assemblymember Linda B. Rosenthal. “And offering a gun as a raffle prize trivializes gun ownership at a time when we as a nation and state are grappling with how best to reduce the number of innocent lives needlessly lost to preventable gun violence. I look forward to working with my colleagues this session to ban both dangerous and cruel practices this session.”