On Tuesday New Mexico lawmakers struck down a ban on coyote-killing contests. The contests drew national attention when a gun shop owner collected $50 entry fees and then gave prizes to the team that killed the most coyotes. The House vote was 38-30 with a handful of Democrats joining Republicans in defeating the bill. “We have to be able to maintain our cattle, our ranches, and our livelihoods,” said representative William Gray. Representative Nate Cote, who sponsored the measure, said the contests were bad for the state’s image and that even hunters had denounced them as unsportsmanlike. Cote himself is a hunter, and he said ranchers and homeowners would have still been entitled to protect their livestock and pets, but that competitions whose only purpose was killing coyotes for entertainment would have become illegal. Via Current-Argus.

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