LAS CRUCES, NM—The Southwest Environmental Center is presenting the premiere screening of a new documentary, Unfair Game: Ending Wildlife Killing Contests. Produced by Project Coyote, the film will be shown on Thursday, January 5, 2017, at 7pm, at the historic Rio Grande Theater in downtown Las Cruces. The event is free and open to the public.
The film, which includes interviews with scientists, public officials, ranchers, hunters, activists, and indigenous peoples, presents an evidence-based argument for banning killing contests in New Mexico and elsewhere. Once of those interviewed is SWEC’s executive director Kevin Bixby. “It is fitting that this film will debut in New Mexico. We are on the verge of becoming the first state to pass a legislative ban on these barbaric and indefensible events,” said Bixby. “This film will help us achieve that goal.”
The screening will be followed by a Q&A session with a panel of experts. The panel will include SWEC’s Kevin Bixby, Camilla Fox and Dave Parsons of Project Coyote, New Mexico State Senator-Elect Jeff Steinborn, and hunter David Soules.
Killing contests are unregulated underground hunting competitions that target coyotes and other unprotected wildlife. Participants and advocates claim to be performing necessary predator management, but science does not back up these claims. The indiscriminate killing of wildlife does not effectively manage their populations, and coyotes are an essential part of the ecosystem, keeping rodent populations in check. Many hunters oppose killing contests as unethical and wasteful.
The New Mexico State Legislature will be considering a bill to ban coyote killing contests when it convenes in January 2017. SWEC supports the bill.
Unfair Game is produced and distributed by Project Coyote. The California non-profit was instrumental in the successful grassroots campaign to ban the awarding of prizes at killing contests in California in 2014.
SWEC is partnering with Project Coyote, Animal Protection Voters, Wild Earth Guardians, the Center for Biological Diversity, and the Sierra Club in presenting Unfair Game. For more information on killing contests in New Mexico, visit http://www.wildmesquite.org/what-we-do/desert-lands-wildlife/wildlife-killing-contests.