State officials cancel squirrel hunting event amid anti-hunter outrage

Officials with the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish had to scrap plans earlier this week for an R3 event intended to promote small game hunting and wildlife photography. After announcing the 2024 Squirrel Challenge on Monday, the state agency received a number of complaints from environmentalists and anti-hunters, according to the Santa Fe New Mexican. On Tuesday, the NMDGF canceled the challenge.

“This decision was made due to a public misconception about the intent of the opportunity,” said NMDGF spokesperson Darren Vaughan. Outdoor living in an emailed statement. “As well as a lack of awareness around the regulations put in place by biologists to maintain squirrel populations.”

The idea that many anti-hunters in New Mexico may not have a full understanding of science-based hunting regulations is understandable. But the fact that some of these same people could destroy a relatively benign event just because it aimed to promote legal hunting is troubling. It also speaks to a larger movement we’re seeing in several states — one that seeks to realign the priorities of state fish and game agencies by deemphasizing the role of regulated hunting and fishing in wildlife management and devoting more resources to non-game management. kind.

Vaughan said the event was created to encourage families and young people to get into the woods and take part in a traditional hunt. He pointed to a rich history of hunting squirrels for food in the Land of Enchantment, and said it was important to raise awareness of opportunities that some residents may not be familiar with.

Increasing this awareness has value because NMDGF, like most other state wildlife agencies, is working to recruit more hunters. And the agency considers small game hunting, which is not nearly as popular as big game hunting in New Mexico, an accessible entry into the sport. Squirrels are also one of the least harvested small game species in the state, according to research harvest reports maintained by NMDGF. A report of the 2020-2021 hunting season shows just over 1,500 squirrels being harvested statewide. That’s compared to more than 21,000 quail and nearly 6,000 doves during the same period.

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Vaughan added that the Squirrel Challenge also had a non-consumptive component. In addition to promoting all-male hunting and getting more young people interested in the sport, the NMDGF encouraged non-hunters to participate by taking photos of squirrels.

It is unclear what the exact rules behind the challenge were, since NMDGF was eliminated web pages And posts on social media associated with the Squirrel Challenge after the event’s cancellation. But Vaughan said the basic idea was that participants would harvest or photograph each of New Mexico’s four squirrel species in the state. He said successful participants would have “received a challenge coin to commemorate their achievement.” A Google summary for the now-deleted Squirrel Challenge page also includes tips and advice for cleaning and preparing squirrels.

What is abundantly clear is that the Squirrel Challenge was not a “wildlife killing competition,” as some protesters might have thought. In these competitions, participants try to kill as many bugs (or the largest bugs) as possible within a certain time frame for money, prizes or other incentives. They usually target pests and predators such as coyotes, bobcats, foxes and prairie dogs. They are illegal in New Mexicoand that has been the case since 2019.

However, this important distinction was not enough to allay the concerns of some squirrel-prone New Mexicans. Denise Fort, who sits on the board of Wildlife for All, told the New Mexican that while she supports hunting for food, she did not think the Squirrel Challenge encouraged eating the harvested squirrels. Wildlife for everyone is a New Mexico-based group pushing for wildlife reform in the state, with roots in animal rights, rewilding and deep ecology campaigns. Another opponent of the Squirrel Challenge, Sierra Club board member Mary Katherine Ray, called the event “outrageous.”

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It’s hard to say what would have been a good incentive in Fort’s eyes, and it appears she is unfamiliar with the deliberate waste laws that apply to hunters across the country. It is illegal in New Mexico not to “carry the edible parts of a game animal into your home for human consumption.”

Regardless of what Fort thinks about legal food hunting, she seems to have a history of treating squirrels as pets rather than the wild creatures they are. In her interview with the Santa Fe newspaper, Fort spoke of fond childhood memories of feeding squirrels in urban Chicago it is illegal to feed deer, but legal to feed squirrels – even by hand. However, Santa Fe is a long way from Chicago, and as with wanton waste, the state of New Mexico has some pretty strong feelings about feeding squirrels and other wildlife.

“What many don’t realize is that feeding wildlife is bad for the animals and dangerous for people,” NMDGF further writes his website. “It is also against the law in New Mexico if it causes a nuisance to you or someone else. There are many reasons why feeding wildlife is a bad idea, and causing a nuisance is just one.”

This article was updated on October 10, 2024 with comments from the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish.