Coyote killing contests are wasteful, wanton behavior counter to Oregon’s values

Oregonians of all stripes, including Republicans and Democrats, hunters and non-hunters alike, hold our wildlife in high regard.

Our state’s proud hunting tradition is influenced by humane values that are uniquely Oregonian, and are reflected in our public policy choices.

In 1994, Oregon voters overwhelmingly passed Measure 18 to ban unethical practices for hunting bears and cougars, and in the last general election, they passed Measure 100 to stop the trafficking in the parts and products of the world’s most imperiled wild animals.

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That’s why it’s easy to see why SB 723, the bill to ban coyote killing contests in Oregon, has received bipartisan support in the Oregon legislature.

Lawmakers and citizens alike are repulsed by the idea of targeting Oregon’s wildlife with mass slaughter for the sake of winning a prize.

An undercover investigation by the Humane Society of the United States showed participants in a contest in Harney County last December slinging the dead bodies of dozens of coyotes onto the ground to be weighed, and joking about how they were killed. The contestant who killed the most coyotes – judged by their total weight – won a prize.

This kind of wasteful, wanton behavior is counter to Oregon’s values and a slap in the face to the public trust doctrine, which holds that wildlife is to be managed for the benefit of all of us, not just a select few.

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After passing Senate Judiciary Committee on a bipartisan, 5-2 vote with a “do pass” recommendation Senate Bill 723  was referred to Senate Rules committee where it appeared stalled for nearly a month.

Finally late last week the bill was scheduled for a hearing and possible work session for Monday afternoon.

Since it was introduced early in the legislative session, citizens from throughout Oregon have contacted their state senators to voice support for SB 723, which has been amended to alleviate concerns by some in the hunting community. 

Citizens have pointed out that these killing contests are not supported by the best available science and are not used by wildlife managers as a means of managing coyotes. 

Contest organizers like to claim they are helping to suppress the coyote population to benefit farmers and ranchers, but in fact, coyotes tend to respond to large, sudden losses in their population by boosting their rate of reproduction. By indiscriminately killing every coyote they can find, contest participants are removing coyotes that avoid livestock and instead prey on rodents and pests that damage crops. 

Note that SB 723 does not ban coyote hunting – coyotes can still be killed year-round, with no bag limit, using almost any means available. The bill merely bans killing them as part of a contest, which leads to the kind of wanton waste that the vast majority of Oregonians find completely unacceptable.  

I encourage the Senate leadership and members of the Rules Committee to stand solidly with Oregonians and move this important legislation to the full Senate for a vote.

Bruce Starr represented Washington County from 2003-2014 as a state senator. He can be reached at bruce@brucestarr.org