Dear <<First Name>>,
 

Despite public outrage and the urgent advice of the scientific community to protect the gentle and beloved cownose rays of the Chesapeake Bay, bowfishers are again planning to massacre them. A cownose ray killing contest is to be held June 26th on public property: Solomon Pier and Boat Ramp in Solomons, Md.

Please ask Mark J. Belton, Maryland's Secretary of Natural Resources, to take immediate action to prevent cownose ray bowfishing contests:
mark.belton@maryland.gov / (410) 260-8101

**
Fish Feel and SHARK (SHowing Animals Respect and Kindness) have alerted the media that we are calling on Secretary Belton to take immediate action to protect the rays from these imminent attacks. 

Last June, Fish Feel and SHARK documented these vicious and ecologically reckless bowfishing contests. The video documentation graphically showed the rays, who are native to the Bay and beloved by many, as they were shot with arrows, impaled, mercilessly beaten, and piled on top of each other to suffocate. Afterwards their bodies are dumped back into the water:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2H-aY-5s6I
and:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KyLZaOS9zDs

Widely covered in the media, the SHARK/Fish Feel investigation generated great public outrage – about 136,000 people so far have signed a petition against this animal abuse, prompting the Chesapeake Bay Program to conduct a scientific workshop about the rays. The workshop report, along with a subsequent scientific report, vindicate the rays, who have been "a convenient scapegoat" for human-caused problems.

The reports also warn that the rays are highly vulnerable to human predation. Marine scientists have, in fact, for years been urging Atlantic states --Maryland and Virginia in particular-- to take immediate action to protect the threatened cownose ray population. This can be done by prohibiting such contests, declaring cownose rays to be "a species in need of conservation," or by taking whatever other action necessary to protect these animals.

Please ask Secretary Belton to take immediate action to prevent cownose ray bowfishing contests:
mark.belton@maryland.gov / (410) 260-8101

Press release, letter, videos, petition, and background info: 
http://fishfeel.org/stop-savage-killing-contests

THANK YOU!

Mary Finelli
President, Fish Feel
Silver Spring, Md.
http://www.FishFeel.org
https://www.Facebook.com/FishFeel.org

Fish Feel is an all-volunteer, 501(c)3 nonprofit organization.