Congress Members Introduce Prohibition of Wildlife Killing Contests - National Humane Education Society

Paws up! To Representative Steve Cohen for Tennessee, and over a dozen other members of Congress for introducing H.R. 7398: Prohibit Wildlife Killing Contests Act of 2022. This bill would prohibit wildlife killing contests on public lands, and for other purposes.

April 13, 2022

The Prohibit Wildlife Killing Contests Act of 2022 was introduced on April 5th, 2022, by Representative Steve Cohen for Tennessee, and over a dozen other members of Congress. Prohibit Wildlife Killing Contests Act of 2022 would stop wildlife killing contests on public lands, and for other purposes. Eight states have already outlawed such activities that target certain species which include Arizona, California, Colorado, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Mexico, Vermont, and Washington.  

A wildlife killing contest is an organized competitive event where the participants compete for either a prize, cash, bragging rights, entertainment, or other incentives. The contest is judged by the number of animals killed, the weight of the animal, the sex of the animal, the size of the animal, and the species of animal among other things. This criterion tends to target ecologically important carnivores including foxes, bobcats, mountain lions, coyotes, and even wolves. A lot of times participants will carelessly discard of these animals, which goes against the North American Model of Wildlife Conservation. This model requires the killing of an animal to be done for a legitimate purpose. These contests take away from hunters that follow this model, and do not waste any part of the animal. Wildlife killing contests held on US public land sabotage animal conservation efforts, and disrupt nature’s ecosystems.

What can you do to help? Contact your legislators to ban wildlife killing contests.