Event draws opposition

What type of people delight in the torture and killing of other creatures? And why do we allow these people access to our lands to maim and murder our wildlife? These animals belong to all of us, so why do a select few – for a nominal fee – get to slaughter them and profit off of it?

What reason is given for the “Great Montana Coyote and Wolf Hunt?” That the animals are pests and varmints who are decimating the other animals these people also want to kill? For the record, wolves are not decimating game animals; studies have shown that the wolves have made the prey animal herds more robust and helped improve habitat as well. Furthermore, the primary role of coyotes in the ecosystem is to keep the rodent populations in check; they are more scavengers than hunters of game animals. Continuing and increasing human encroachment on wildlife habitat is a far more serious danger than are wolves or coyotes.

These predators have the same rights of existence as do we humans. They hunt for survival, not for recreation or economic gain. Humans, our companion animals, and livestock face greater threats from humans and disease than we do from these other predators. These animals are not pests and it is inhumane to treat them as the organizers and participants of this atrocious derby propose to do – killing as many as possible by indiscriminately trapping and shooting anything that remotely resembles these canines.

This cruel event gives Montana a bad image, for most civilized people wish to shoot wildlife with a camera and not a gun. Most visitors to our beautiful state come here to admire our wildlife, not to see piles of carcasses.