Coffee & Coyotes

press release: “Stop The Madness” is a group of concerned Wisconsinites working to end local wildlife killing contests. The group is holding an event “Coffee & Coyotes” on Wednesday, November 28, from 10:00am-11:00am at the Ruth Culver Library, Prairie du Sac, to increase public awareness on the issue. The family-friendly gathering will focus on species education and encourage sportsmanship in hunting practices. If adults are interested in efforts to end the practice of killing contests, there will be a lettering writing opportunity.

The annual killing contest, “Moondog Madness,” has taken place for the last ---years and occurs in Sparta, Sauk City and Cambria, WI throughout January. Participants use calls to attract coyotes and are encouraged to kill as many animals as possible without any regulation. Hundreds of coyotes are killed during these three contests.

“Most people aren’t even aware that this is going on,” says a local resident, “I grew up in Prairie du Sac with friends and family hunting, but I had never heard of it. Now that I’ve seen the images, they’re hard to shake and I think many people in the area would agree there isn’t support for this type of ‘contest’.”

More than 50 scientists across North America called for a prohibition on wildlife killing contests in 2015 saying, “The most general reason to prohibit wildlife killing contests is that hunters and wildlife managers believe, as a community, that killing animals without an adequate reason is unjustified and unsportsmanlike. Killing an animal for a prize or trophy constitutes killing without an adequate reason.”

The Humane Society of the United States reports that, “despite claims to the contrary, killing contests do not reduce the coyote population and do not protect livestock or wildlife from depredations. Even if large numbers of predators are removed from an area, scientific evidence demonstrates that predators such as coyotes and foxes respond with an increase in numbers—the population may even grow to outnumber that in the area before the killing.”

For more information on the “Stop the Madness” campaign or to find out ways you can help end killing contests, visit on Facebook @StoptheMadnessWI.