Dear Lawyer,
I overheard someone at my workplace talk about joining a coyote hunting contest next month, where shooters compete to see who can kill the most coyotes in one day. I am new to New Mexico and never heard of such a thing. Is it legal? Doesn’t the state protect wildlife? Aren’t people at risk of being hurt or killed? — Shocked and Disturbed
  
Dear Shocked,
    Welcome to the Wild West. Yes, contests such as the one you describe take place regularly in New Mexico and other western states. Not only are coyotes targeted, but also animals such as prairie dogs, raccoons, skunks, and even wolves. While wildlife in general is protected from indiscriminate slaughter, the laws in New Mexico classify coyotes as a “nuisance species” that is not protected under the interests of either wildlife preservation or preventing animal cruelty. Land Commissioner Ray Powell has taken the step of banning such contests on state trust land, but they continue unregulated on private, non-trust, and federal land.
    The arguments against such massacres are many. Aside from the obvious cruelty, people have been shot by overeager and inattentive hunters, as have livestock, companion animals, and endangered species. Killing contests also have destructive impacts on the ecosystem, as the decimation of a local predator species can allow proliferation of prey species, which can damage grazing land and pose public health risks like hantavirus and plague.
    In California, commissioners at the Bureau of Land Management did recently ban killing contests on federal lands. Oregon banned killing contests after a lawsuit challenged their link to gambling, in violation of that state’s anti-gaming statutes. I personally believe that the broad parameters of the Animal Welfare Act would severely limit such contests, but the Department of Agriculture has yet to make this determination.
    In New Mexico, a bill that would have banned these contests was narrowly defeated in 2013 and is likely to be introduced again in the 2015 session.
    While wholesale slaughter of any wild species for entertainment seems contrary to the public interest, the remedies in this case will have to come at the level of legislative politics—at least for now in this state—and will require efforts by you and any others who want to see a change.
   
Ed Goodman worked for more than two decades as a trial lawyer in Massachusetts. He lives in Corrales with his human partner and their seven dogs, four turkeys, four chickens, and a parrot.