Congress Introduces Legislation to Ban Wildlife Killing Contests on Public Lands

[UngulateNerd92]

Today, more than 15 members of Congress introduced legislation that would prohibit organizing, sponsoring, conducting, or participating in wildlife killing contests on more than 500 million acres of U.S. public lands.

The Prohibit Wildlife Killing Contests Act of 2022, whose introduction was led by Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.), would require the Bureau of Land Management, Bureau of Reclamation, National Park Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and U.S. Forest Service to enact regulations banning wildlife killing contests within a year. Eight states — Arizona, California, Colorado, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Mexico, Vermont, and Washington — have already outlawed these events within their borders.

Congress Introduces Legislation to Ban Wildlife Killing Contests on Public Lands

 

[birdsandbats]

Hmm, not sure I like this one. It's not as if hunting is out of control on most of these lands, and the hunting of overpopulated deer and invasive species may be a good thing in some situations.

 

[UngulateNerd92]

Hmm, not sure I like this one. It's not as if hunting is out of control on most of these lands, and the hunting of overpopulated deer and invasive species may be a good thing in some situations.

It is an interesting story. If this somehow passes, hopefully they can at least carve out a certain exception to the rule. One that is scientifically based, determining different factors (ie specific species this would apply to, their population number and population trends, whether they are native or non-native/invasive etc.).

 

[birdsandbats]

Now that I'm thinking about this further, doesn't Everglades NP host one of these for Burmese Pythons? Outlawing that would be a huge mistake and could cause issues (the snakes are expanding north last I heard).

 

[UngulateNerd92]

Now that I'm thinking about this further, doesn't Everglades NP host one of these for Burmese Pythons? Outlawing that would be a huge mistake and could cause issues (the snakes are expanding north last I heard).

Yeah, as I said, if this law were to pass, it should exclude invasive species! Especially Burmese pythons in the Everglades!

 

[Great Argus]

Hmm, not sure I like this one. It's not as if hunting is out of control on most of these lands, and the hunting of overpopulated deer and invasive species may be a good thing in some situations.

I second this. These sort of events on public land are usually pretty regulated and fairly uncommon, bar things like the example of the pythons that has already been brought up. Especially in parts of the East where the Mountain Lion and wolf no longer occur in any number, hunting keeps the deer population manageable and helps avoid disease. I saw an article just the other day how the southern Moose populations are suffering from diseases brought by heavy deer populations encroaching on their range...

 

[birdsandbats]

I second this. These sort of events on public land are usually pretty regulated and fairly uncommon, bar things like the example of the pythons that has already been brought up. Especially in parts of the East where the Mountain Lion and wolf no longer occur in any number, hunting keeps the deer population manageable and helps avoid disease. I saw an article just the other day how the southern Moose populations are suffering from diseases brought by heavy deer populations encroaching on their range...

Those deer diseases are why Moose no longer occur in Wisconsin, and why they cannot be reintroduced despite plenty of potentially suitable habitat.

 

[Pantheraman]

This is a good bill.

As for concerns that this will negatively impact deer hunting and invasive species management, here's what the bill says about it.

"
(2) EXCEPTIONS.—This subsection shall not apply to—

(A) field trials;

(B) wildlife killing contests that exclusively target ungulates or birds of the orders Galliformes or Anatidae; or

(C) lethal control actions by State or Federal agencies that target wildlife classified as invasive by the National Invasive Species Information Center."

Text - H.R.7398 - 117th Congress (2021-2022): Prohibit Wildlife Killing Contests Act of 2022

These events are horrific and aren't about conservation at all. The people participating in these things are driven by one thing only: hate.

People kill these animals out of eliminating competition for "their game" or because they think they end up reducing attacks on livestock.

And are the killed animals used for anything? Nope. They're either dumped somewhere or they're left on the ground to rot, in other words, they're an example of the wanton waste of wildlife, something the NAM (North American Model of Wildlife Conservation) prohibits.

 

[Pantheraman]

Those deer diseases are why Moose no longer occur in Wisconsin, and why they cannot be reintroduced despite plenty of potentially suitable habitat.

Then in that case, there likely needs to be more than simple hunting. More like a large-scale deer cull to cut their numbers.

As for Minnesota, because of recent research that found wolves help moose by preying on deer, in Wisconsin wolves were considered extirpated in 1960, and moose were extirpated in the 1900s. In short, killing off the wolves sounds like it doomed Wisconsin's moose.

I know this would tick off the hunting community, but in this case, who gives a crud? It's worth a shot if it means moose numbers might increase. Besides, the game agency likes to maintain a high deer population for them since they pay them so when you think about it, they're kinda at fault here.