Working to Ban Killing Contests on the Chesapeake Bay
WHO WE ARE
Save the Cownose Rays Coalition is a grassroots coalition of non-profit organizations working to ban inhumane contests held in in the Chesapeake Bay and its Maryland tributaries to kill cownose rays – not for food – but purely for entertainment.
OUR CAUSE
Cownose rays migrate to the Bay in May to give birth to their pups and mate almost immediately afterwards. Tragically, cruel killing contests happen at this same time — many of the rays killed are pregnant. Contestants have also been filmed killing newborn baby rays.
Currently, there is a moratorium on these contests. We need them to be permanently banned!
We need your help…
Killing native, migratory cownose rays purely for entertainment through inhumane contests is cruel, unnecessary and potentially harmful to the Chesapeake Bay’s ecosystem.
TAKE ACTION NOW
GREAT NEWS! The bill to protect cownose rays has been signed into law! It was unanimously passed by the Maryland Senate, and Governor Hogan signed it on April 30th, 2019. The new law extends the moratorium on killing contests that target the rays until the state prepares a management plan for the rays – one that will hopefully ban these cruel and environmentally reckless contests for good.
In 2017, Governor Hogan signed a cownose ray bill into law. The law called on the Maryland Department of Natural Resources to develop a management plan for the rays by the end of 2018, and put a moratorium on fishing contests for cownose rays until July 1, 2019. Unfortunately, the state didn’t meet the deadline, so new legislation needed to be introduced to extend the moratorium until a plan is in place.
Sign up for updates: info@savetheraysmd.org
COALITION PARTNERS
