KILLING COYOTE

“Informative.”

Booklist

“Why hunt coyotes? As a means of 'pest control,' hunting coyotes is pointless and ineffectual. Yet, coyote hunting remains a widespread practice. Why? As this well-crafted documentary illustrates, the coyote remains a popular scapegoat largely due to ignorance, ill-founded tradition, and most troubling of all, human nature.”

Timothy McGettigan, Ph.D., Department of Sociology, Colorado State University-Pueblo

“An artful and intelligent look at the unending assault open the American coyote. Nearly 400,000 coyotes are shot, trapped, and poisoned every year, but the resilient creature continues to eke out an existence in the dusty West. The film shows a rich and varied series of perspectives on the issue, from the hunters who feel it is their God-given right to kill anything they please to the overeager and self-righteous animal rights activists to the absurd Wildlife Services office that siphons off tax-dollars to fund cyanide cannons. Along the way, Hawes-Davis encounters biologists who theorize that the constant hunting of the coyotes actually leads to their continued success, since the survival rate of the coyote litters increases. With a deft hand and the good-sense to the let the colorful characters do the talking, Hawes-Davis reveals a remarkable, brutal, frequently hilarious, and 100% American tale.”

www.cduniverse.com

“Continuing a tradition of cinema verite documentary filmmaking, where the producer is notably absent from the finished film, KILLING COYOTE features live action footage from the National Coyote Calling Championship where hundreds of animals are killed for cash and prizes, at a federal government research/experimentation facility for coyote 'control,' and on ranches across the West. Wildlife biologists, ranchers and contest hunters all weigh in as the documentary cuts back and forth between wildlife cinematography, field interviews, the hunting contests and an Arizona Game & Fish Commission hearing on the issue, which serves both as backdrop and to drive the plot - will Arizona ban body count contest hunts?”

Charleston Documentary Film Festival