By Alicia Groef

Coyotes in New Mexico are a little bit safer from being wantonly killed in the state thanks to legislation that bans killing contests that target them.

These contests, which are also known as derbies or drives, reward people of all ages, including children, for killing the biggest or most animals with cash and other prizes. According to Project Coyote, at least 30 of these types of events take place in the state every single year.

Sadly for coyotes, who are often the target of these types of contests, they’re left without protection and can be killed in unlimited numbers year round.

Now, however, things are about to change. Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham just signedlegislation making it illegal to organize, sponsor, or participate in coyote-killing contests throughout the state as of July 1.

“This is a huge victory for New Mexico’s wildlife and New Mexicans,” said Amanda Munro, communications director for the Southwest Environmental Center. “Our wildlife deserves management that reflects broad public opinion, respects all wildlife, and is informed by modern ecological understanding about the value of all species. This bill takes New Mexico a giant step in that direction.”

While these competitions are often held under the guise of wildlife management, or predator control, wildlife advocates and scientists continue to argue that they’re not only cruel and wasteful, but counter to the goal of reducing conflicts with “nuisance” animals and can actually cause more problems by breaking up social structures of packs, which can lead to more conflicts with us and more breeding.

The indiscriminate killing of predators also ignores the valuable role they play in maintaining healthy ecosystems. In New Mexico, targeting coyotes also puts critically endangered Mexican wolves at risk of being mistakenly killed.

Thankfully coyotes and multiple other species being targeted in these types of contests aren’t without their advocates who have been working to make them a thing of the past and see coexistence with native wildlife promoted instead.

“This victory has been nearly two decades in the making, the culmination of a homegrown campaign waged by thousands of dedicated New Mexicans appalled that these gruesome blood sports are hosted in our state,” said Jessica Johnson, chief legislative officer for Animal Protection Voters. “Today, we as a state are taking a giant step toward thoughtful, humane wildlife management and basic human decency.”

New Mexico now joins California and Vermont, which have both acted to ban these types of contests, and will hopefully help set a precedent for other states to quickly follow. These types of indefensible events are clearly about nothing more than recklessly killing wildlife for fun and personal gain, and shouldn’t be tolerated anywhere.

For more on how to help end wildlife-killing contests across the country, check out Project Coyote.

Photo credit: Getty Images

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