State Asked to Halt Coyote-hunting Contest Planned for California's Modoc County Feb. 8-10

Hunt Risks Killing Endangered Wolves, Breaking New Wildlife Law

SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 1, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A coalition of more than 20 wildlife conservation organizations, representing more than a million Californians, are calling on the California Department of Wildlife and California Fish and Game Commission to stop a planned coyote-hunting contest scheduled for early February in Modoc County.

The groups, which include Project Coyote, the Animal Welfare Institute and the Center for Biological Diversity, believe the "Coyote Drive 2013" hunt poses a serious threat to wolf OR-7 (also called "Journey"), as well as any other uncollared gray wolves who, like OR-7, may have dispersed into California and be roaming the area.

"Wolves are official candidates for protection under the California Endangered Species Act, and are also protected by the federal Endangered Species Act, so state wildlife officials have a duty to do everything in their power to protect gray wolves in California," said Amaroq Weiss, a West Coast wolf organizer with the Center for Biological Diversity.

The groups also maintain that the contest hunt violates new state legislation that requires the Fish and Game Commission to use "ecosystem-based management" and the best available science in the stewardship of California's wildlife.

"Killing coyotes — or any wild animal — as part of a contest or tournament is ethically indefensible, ecologically reckless, and counter to sound science," said Camilla Fox, Project Coyote executive director and a wildlife consultant to the Animal Welfare Institute.

The conservation coalition sent letters to all state and federal wildlife-management agencies requesting that those agencies enforce permitting requirements and restrictions on predator hunting. The Bureau of Land Management confirmed that the hunt sponsors — the Pit River Rod and Gun Club and Adin Supply Company — have not obtained a special recreational-use permit and therefore participants cannot legally hunt on BLM lands. The coalition also sent a letter to the hunt sponsors requesting that they cancel the coyote hunt because it could violate state and federal laws, possibly hurting or killing endangered wolves.

"There can be no biological or legal justification for setting coyote hunters loose in an area where gray wolves are mounting a return after an absence of nearly 90 years from the state," said D.J. Schubert, a wildlife biologist with the Animal Welfare Institute.

Project Coyote promotes educated coexistence between people and coyotes by championing progressive management policies that reduce human-coyote conflict, supporting innovative scientific research, and by fostering respect for and understanding of America's native wild "song dog." http://www.projectcoyote.org/

The Animal Welfare Institute is a non-profit charitable organization founded in 1951 and dedicated to reducing animal suffering caused by people. AWI engages policymakers, scientists, industry, and the public to achieve better treatment of animals everywhere—in the laboratory, on the farm, in commerce, at home, and in the wild. http://www.awionline.org

The Center for Biological Diversity is a national, nonprofit conservation organization with more than 450,000 members and online activists dedicated to the protection of endangered species and wild places. http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/

You can find the Stop the Coyote Contest Hunt Petition at Change.org:

http://www.change.org/petitions/ca-dept-of-fish-wildlife-f-g-commission-stop-coyote-killing-contest

SOURCE Animal Welfare Institute