Coyote Killing Contest In New Mexico Angers Activists

Los Lunas, NM – A coyote killing contest sponsored by a local gun store has angered animal rights activists, according to ABC News.

Animal Protection of New Mexico has been extremely vocal about the two day hunt. In order to make people aware of what they refer to as a “heinous killing contest,” the organization posted a petition on its official website.

“The organizers of the contest have consistently claimed that any criticism of this event is an infringement upon gun-ownership rights and hunting privileges,” the petition reads. “However, on our petition against the contest, over a third of signees have self-identified as gun owners, and a tenth are hunters or anglers.”

Gunhawk Firearms owner Mark Chavez had no intention of letting the petition or protesters from derailing his contest. In fact, he intends to sell the coyote pelts to a local taxidermist for roughly $50 a piece. In his eyes, this money could be used for something positive.

“[I’m] going to show the public this is not a waste,” Chavez said. “I would like to raise about $2,500. I think that would be a nice scholarship for someone.”

Although many people were upset about the proposed coyote killing contest, no protesters bothered to show up at the gun shop on Saturday. According to CBS News, Gunhawk Firearms employees had more reporters to deal with than angry activists.

Store manager Rick Gross explained that, while the shop does care what people thing about the business, they aren’t operating outside of the law.

“We care about public opinion, we care,” Gross explained. “Honestly we took this over because a big gun shop pulled out because of threats. And we just thought that was wrong. We’re going to stick to it no matter what — much more on principle.”

What do you think about the coyote killing contest? Do you think the gun shop is wrong for sponsoring such an event?