February Racoon Killing ‘Contest’ Fundraiser in Elmwood Area for Charity and Coyote Killing Contest in McDonough County Raise Questions.

By Joyce Blumenshine

Does the idea of wildlife killing contests make you feel uncomfortable? Well, it should. Indiscriminate killing of wildlife does not succeed in balancing their populations. Foxes, racoons, rabbits, crows, and coyotes are some of the animals subjected to killing contests. Random killing of coyotes destroys their pack structure and can result in actually increasing the coyote population.

Project Coyote in Illinois is working to bring awareness of killing contests and the real impacts on animal populations. Killing contests usually have prizes for the most dead animals brought in or have other categories for the largest, etc., and totally miss any concerns for the actual impacts on the area wildlife. For more information and actions you can take in Illinois see Project Coyote in Illinois.