VICTORY: Maryland Governor Signs Bill Protecting Cownose Rays Into Law!

On April 30, 2019, Maryland Governor Larry Hogan signed H.B. 213 — the Cownose Ray Fishery Management Plan and Moratorium on Contests — into law after the bill unanimously passed the Maryland Senate by a 47-0 vote.

The new law extends the moratorium on the cruel and barbaric killing contests of Chesapeake Bay's precious cownose rays indefinitely until the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) creates a fishery management plan for the species — one that will hopefully ban the cruel contests altogether.

In May of 2017, Gov. Hogan signed H.B. 211 / S.B. 268 into law — an emergency bill that imposed a two-year moratorium on the gruesome contests that targeted cownose rays, including pregnant rays and their pups, until July 1, 2019, in order to give the DNR time to prepare a fishery management plan.

Prior to the 2017 moratorium, the Chesapeake Bay cownose ray killing contests were held every year in the summer, during which hunters brutally shot rays with a tethered bow, reeled them up to the water's surface, and then viciously beat them to death with bats and clubs.

In 2016, LCA joined forces with Showing Animals Respect and Kindness (SHARK) to expose the ruthless cownose ray hunters. (Warning: the following contains graphic footage.)

In order to help put an end to the horrific and heartless slaughter of cownose rays, LCA also joined a coalition of nonprofit organizations dedicated to protecting the Chesapeake Bay rays. The grassroots coalition, Save the Rays, has been diligently working for years to get legislation passed in Maryland that would end the senseless slaughter of the species and will continue working to ensure the DNR establishes a management plan that protects the cownose rays.

Click here to learn more about LCA's campaign to end the brutal cownose ray killing contests.

Photo: Pixabay