During the recent 19th Annual Sullivan County Hunt, an appalling three-day killing spree incentivized by cash prizes and gun giveaways, hunters armed with high-tech call devices, dogs, and high-powered firearms lured, chased, and then shot at least 34 coyotes in Pennsylvania. The Facebook page is currently down, most-likely due to public outrage about the event.
The organizers of the hunt paid out at least $6,000 for the mass killing of coyotes who had no documented history of harming anyone. Prizes included $1,025 for the heaviest female each day, $200 for the smallest coyote, and a “grand prize” of $2,000 for the heaviest animal killed.
“The findings of our investigation into the 19th Annual Sullivan County Coyote Hunt are appalling. Killing animals should never be a competition, especially when the animals involved pose no threat to the community,” Nina Jackel, Founder of Lady Freethinker, which conducted an undercover investigation during the event, told WAN. “With coyote hunting contests like this one happening all over the country, we knew that Lady Freethinker had to bring light to this incredibly inhumane practice.”
As per a petition created by the organization, participants killed the coyotes from across ten counties in Pennsylvania before bringing their bloodied bodies to the Laporte Fire Hall, where organizers bound the dead animals’ front and back legs together, hung them on a hook, and called out their weights. Some of the participants also took the killed coyotes with them with the intent to skin the animals to further profit from their pelts.
According to a Lady Freethinker undercover investigator, a presenter at the event, who gave tips to those gathered on how to kill more coyotes, was overheard describing the killing as “fun and addicting.”
As accurately noted by the organization, “There is no honor in using high-powered technology and firearms to kill innocent animals for cash and prizes, nor in abusing and disrespecting the dead bodies of animals whose only crime was to exist.”
