Stephanie Boyles Griffin and Molly Armus
Although Virginia has successfully outlawed other blood sports such as dogfighting and cockfighting, predator killing contests are still legal in the commonwealth.
Hundreds of bobcats, foxes and coyotes might fall victim at a single contest, in which participants gun down animals in competition for cash and prizes. The Humane Society of the United States recently went undercover at two such contests in Virginia and documented the grim goings-on.
At the Kanawha Valley Predator Calling Championship in Dugspur in January, piles of bloody coyotes and foxes were packed into crates attached to trucks bearing stickers and license plates reading âCoyote Hearse,â âYote H8Râ and âCoyote Taxi.â