'Killing Contests' That Target Pregnant Females Threaten to Wipe Out This Graceful Ocean Animal WARN

[Omaha Steve]

?itok=LhV9apXs
(Photo: Facebook)

http://www.takepart.com/article/2014/12/16/east-coast-killing-contests-threaten-wipe-out-cownose-stingray?cmpid=tpdaily-eml-2014-12-16

Scientists fear the hunts will decimate the cownose ray before they can learn of its role in the marine ecosystem.

December 16, 2014 By Erica Gies

Erica Gies is an independent journalist who writes about the core requirements for life—water and energy—from Victoria, British Columbia, and San Francisco.


Each summer, bow fishers pack their beer and bravado and launch themselves onto Chesapeake Bay, competing to shoot the largest cownose rays, which they typically don’t eat.

Usually a team of about three people shoot from a platform at the back of the boat when the rays are mating. “You can see these rays skittering across the water, and then they’ll settle into a euphoric state with their wing tips out of the water,” said Robbie Bowe, organizer of Bowes & Arrows Skate Shoot and owner of an archery shop in Woodbridge, Md. “The object is to run your boat up as fast as possible and shoot ’em while they’re right on top.”

Last May, a man on a beach posed proudly with 26 dead rays, a crossbow in his hand, in a picture posted on the Tilghman Island Cownose Ray Tournament’s Facebook page. “Declare war on the rays” reads a comment.


(Photo: Gilbert Grant/Getty Images)

Most killing contests are in June, when the rays have returned from the Gulf of Mexico to the Chesapeake to mate and give birth. The biggest rays are pregnant females, and they are the contestants’ prime targets.

FULL story at link. There is a photo in the story you might find hard to take. OS

[AtomicKitten]

1. What a gawdawful tradition.

[Mnemosyne]

2. Idiots. nt

[eppur_se_muova]

3. Shooting fish in a barrel is next.

What really macho guys ! Ooooh, I'm so envious of their manly prowess !

[joeybee12]

4. Effing idiots...knr

[rhett o rick]

5. Sickening. Thanks for posting. nm

[hifiguy]

6. Pointless, cruel and

goddamned moronic. I guess that makes you Big Men, you stupid asshats.

[Brickbat]

7. Cownose rays are disrupting oyster farming in the Chesapeake Bay.

Their numbers have risen because their natural predators, sharks, have been overfished. They're also edible. Too bad this isn't controlled better, because obviously wiping something out isn't ideal.