I had high hopes, but I was still surprised by the rush of joy that overwhelmed me today when Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham signed legislation outlawing coyote-killing contests in New Mexico.
No longer can coyote carcasses, including pups, be stacked up for prizes and then dumped like so much trash. No longer will this particular human appetite for group violence be legally tolerated. Decency wins; wildlife wins; New Mexico wins!
The governor was under immense pressure from the same forces who have killed this legislation for years. When we asked you to urge the governor to do the right thing, you responded in the greatest numbers of any alert we’ve sent in the past year. Thank you for never giving up!
Coyotes are important native carnivores that do not deserve to be ...
Garcia Richard’s decision is a victory for sound wildlife management
For immediate release: Jan. 10, 2019 Contact: Mary Katherine Ray, Sierra Club Rio Grande Chapter Wildlife chair, 575-772-5655, mkrscrim@gmail.com
On Thursday, New Mexico Land Commissioner Stephanie Garcia Richard announced a ban on cruel coyote-killing contests on the 9.5 million acres of state trust land. The ban also applies to other non-protected species.
“We applaud Land Commissioner Garcia Richard’s announcement prohibiting the competitive killing of our state’s wildlife on state trust land,” said Sierra Club Rio Grande Chapter Wildlife Chair Mary Katherine Ray. “These organized wildlife massacres do not meet any modern principle of scientific wildlife management.”
Contest participants’ claim they are controlling populations are not evidence-based: Biologists have found killing ...
