WINNIPEG—A bird and gopher-shooting contest planned for May 10 in Minnedosa exposes a legal blind spot in Manitoba, permitting intelligent and highly social animals such as crows and magpies to be killed in large numbers for cash prizes.
The scheduled event is similar to another crow and magpie killing contest held last month, where the Chief Veterinary Office (CVO) declined to take action because it did not believe crows met the definition of “animal” under Manitoba’s Animal Care Act (ACA), legislation that prohibits causing animals “acute suffering, serious injury or harm, or extreme anxiety or distress.”
“The Act defines an ‘animal’ as any non-human living being with a developed nervous system, and crows, magpies, and gophers certainly meet that definition,” said Kaitlyn Mitchell, Animal Justice’s Manitoba-based director of legal advocacy. “The upcoming contest incentivizes shooting as many animals as possible, encouraging careless shooting that may cause animals needless suffering. Crows, magpies, and gophers should benefit from protection under our provincial cruelty law.”
The protections granted by the ACA are crucial because while listed species such as ravens are shielded from such cruel hunting competitions under Manitoba’s Wildlife Act, crows, their close relatives, are deprived of these safeguards. In response to calls for action regarding April’s killing contest, the Manitoba Wildlife Administration said the government “does not support or condone killing contests or other organized events in which animals are hunted purely for sport or prizes” but declined to take action because the contest did not violate existing legislation.
“Shooting birds and gophers for points and cash prizes is not a ‘generally accepted’ hunting practice. It’s great that the province doesn’t condone these cruel contests, but words aren’t enough—it’s time to close this nonsensical loophole. There’s no place in Manitoba for contests encouraging people to gun down highly-intelligent birds and sentient, social animals for fun and prizes,” Ms. Mitchell said.
Animal Justice is calling on the CVO to investigate the planned crow and magpie killing contest in Minnedosa, which will also award “points” for killing gophers, and intervene to prevent it from going ahead, as it appears to violate the ACA. Animal Justice is also urging the Ministry of Natural Resources and Indigenous Futures to strengthen the Wildlife Act and ban all killing contests that target animals purely for sport and prizes.
Contact:
Josh Lynn
Public Relations Manager
[email protected]
Kaitlyn Mitchell
Director of Legal Advocacy
[email protected]