Cabela's: Proud Sponsor of Killing Sprees

It's one thing for a company to sponsor an event like, say, the Olympics, but to throw their corporate dollars behind a slaughtering competition seems like a riskier public relations move. Unless you're a major outdoor retailer like Cabela's or Sportsman's Warehouse, who are the proud sponsors of three recent predator derbies.

In case you aren't familiar with these derbies, all over the U.S. hunters compete to see who can take the most lives. There are different points awarded for different animals, typically with the Big Bad Wolf (or coyote) as the most coveted kill. These tournaments are celebrations of death, often accompanied by dances and "skinning parties." Sometimes they're state funded, sometimes they find corporate sponsors.

The killing doesn't stop with the trophy ceremony — the entry fees for these competitions are often used to support lobbying efforts to keep wolves in the crosshairs by keeping them off the endangered species list.

Even some hunters find these competitions cruel. The goal is quantity, not quality of the kill, which means that in addition the hundreds of slaughtered animals, countless others are left behind to die slowly from badly aimed gunshot wounds. The concentration of hunters in one area also puts the animals at an unfair disadvantage (as if guns weren't already unfair enough). Underlying all of this is the disturbing concept of killing as a sport.

It doesn't surprise me that Cabela's supports these tournaments. If you've never been in a Cabela's store, they're basically taxidermy museums. When a store opened near me, even my shamelessly carnivorous friends confessed that the number of dead bodies made it an uncomfortable place to shop for camping gear.

But their taste in decorating isn't any excuse to promote the cruelty of slaughtering competitions or to jeopardize our ecosystems. The company claims to be "dedicated to conserving the fish, game and wild places that are our heritage," but by threatening predator populations, they're also threatening the ecological balance of places like Yellowstone National Park.

Send a message to Cabela's and Sportsman's Warehouse asking them to withdraw their support for wolf-killing derbies. They may not respect wildlife, but they should respect the integrity of wild places and the purchasing power of customers who refuse to support competitive killing.

Photo credit: dalliedee