Scott Sonner / AP
A coyote makes its way through the snow Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2015 on a hillside near the Truckee Meadows Community College campus on the north side of Reno.
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The Reno City Council recently threw its weight behind a push to ban wildlife-killing contests in Nevada, voting 6-1 to urge state wildlife officials to do away with the barbaric practice.
Here’s a note of appreciation to the council, which joined the Clark County Commission in putting pressure on the state to bring Nevada out of the dark ages on the issue.
Other local governments should follow suit. The city councils of Las Vegas, North Las Vegas, Henderson should approve their own resolutions as a show of galvanized support in Southern Nevada for a ban.
Certainly, something needs to be done to either push the state Department of Wildlife board of commissioners into action, or compel Nevada lawmakers to take the matter into their own hands.
The wildlife commission appears stuck in neutral, as a recent attempt by the board to find room for compromise on the matter went nowhere. That was predictable, as this issue doesn’t lend itself to middle ground any more than the clubbing of baby seals or harvesting animals for their ivory.
It’s appalling that Nevada is among a dwindling number of states where these contests are still allowed.
If you’re unfamiliar with them, here’s how they work: Someone starts a timer, and participants kill as many animals as they can before time expires. Generally the targets are coyotes, which may be attracted using wounded-animal calls and then shot with high-powered rifles equipped with long-range scopes.
The animals are counted and/or weighed, and the winning shooters get prizes. Sometimes there are youth divisions.
The carcasses are generally thrown away.
At least eight states have passed bans on these contests since 2014, including several of Nevada’s neighbors — Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico among them.
But we’re still holding out, even though there is no evidence that these contests reduce predation of livestock or benefit wildlife conservation in any way. Biologists say indiscriminate kill-offs of coyote populations simply lead other animals to filter into the empty territory, and also can prompt coyotes to start eating protein-packed larger animals — think sheep, goats, etc. — rather their usual diet of rabbits, rodents and the like.
“There is not one state department that recognizes wildlife-killing contests as a viable scientific management tool. Not even (the Nevada Department of Wildlife),” Fanua Tomlinson, a wildlife advocate, told The Nevada Appeal newspaper in Carson City. “They’re just not ethical hunting ... It’s wanton waste. Nobody uses these dead carcasses.”
Unfortunately, Nevada’s status as one of few western states where the contests can take place makes us more attractive to organizers of the events, which could lead to an increase in the number of slaughters taking place in our state.
That’s another compelling reason to get a ban in place. It will protect our wildlife, and shut down a type of tourism we don’t want or need.
The city councils of our region can and should help push the issue in the right direction. Reno did it; now it’s time for Las Vegas, North Las Vegas and Henderson to dial up the pressure too.
