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.
Fish Feel and Save the Rays Coalition thank you for helping the rays!
Graphic Undercover Investigation of Maryland Massacre
Save the Rays Maryland
Video above: From Save the Cownose Rays Coalition, a grassroots coalition of non-profit organizations working to ban inhumane cownose rays killing contests held in the Chesapeake Bay and its Maryland tributaries. Join us and support legislation to ban these contests! http://www.savetheraysmd.org
Proposed Regulation to Protect the Rays
DNR Called On to Stop Imminent, Brutal Attacks on Cownose Rays
Graphic undercover video of a killing contest that occurred on June 13th documents the horrific slaughter of cownose rays of the Chesapeake Bay. Shot with arrows at point-blank range, the rays were then gaffed and repeatedly clubbed with bats before slowly suffocating to death.
Every year, graceful cownose rays, a type of eagle ray, migrate to the Chesapeake Bay to mate and give birth to their pups. As they glide along the water’s surface, bowfishers competing for prize money descend upon them in boats and shoot them point blank with arrows, impale them, club them repeatedly with metal bats, and pile them into a box to suffocate. Many of the victims are pregnant.
Fish Feel teamed up with SHARK to document this outrageous and perverted animal abuse. “There is no valid justification for the vicious massacre of these gentle creatures who are merely trying to survive. Scientists and the government have expressed disapproval of such reckless slaughter, and of the grave environmental consequences that could result,” said Mary Finelli, President of Fish Feel.
“These people have no respect for life. They shoot arrows into these beautiful animals swimming slowly at the surface, many whom may be pregnant, and drag them out of the water by hooks, beat them mercilessly with metal clubs, and then throw them still alive into boxes where they slowly suffocate to death. Then, we saw bowhunters dumping the bodies into the river like garbage. This is an atrocity and it must end now,” added Michael Gurwitz, who witnessed this massacre.
Additional cownose ray killing contests were also held on June 27, 2015 at Buzzards Point Marina in Reedville, VA, and on June 28, 2015 at Hallowing Point Marina in Prince Frederick, MD. The image below, which shows the rays in a dumpster as if they were trash, was taken at the Reedville slaughter.
Cownose rays thrown in the dumpster along with trash after being weighed at the Reedville, VA slaughter
More details and photos are in this Animals 24/7 article.
Cownose Rays in the Chesapeake Bay: What do we know? –
10/22/2015Scientific workshop report on cownose rays in the Chesapeake Bay
Critical Assessment and Ramifications of a Purported Marine Trophic Cascade – 2/15/2016Scientific report vindicating the cownose rays
Undersea Flyers Persecuted For Uncommitted Sins – Outdoor America – Fall 2015
Media Coverage
MD Eyes Curb on Bowfishing for Cownose Rays – Bay Journal – 7/30/20
MD Senate Approves Moratorium on Ray Tournaments – Bay Journal – 4/23/20
MD Bow-fishing Tournament for Cownose Rays Renews Controversy – Bay Journal – 3/20/20
Extend Ban on Cownose Ray Killing Contests – Bay Times/Record-Observer – 2/27/2019
Lawmakers Vote To Extend Moratorium On Ray Killing Contests – The Bay Net – 2/27/2019
Killing Contests: Culture War Losers Flip the Bird – Animals 24-7 – 2/20/2019
An Array and a Ray – The U. of Maryland Center for Environmental Science – 2/11/2019
Cownose Rays in the Chesapeake Bay – Chesapeake Bay Program – 2/7/2019
Fleshing Out the Big Picture of Cownose Ray Migration – Daily Press – 9/6/18
Cownose Rays Vulnerable to Overfishing in Bay, Study Warns – Chesapeake Bay Magazine – 8/26/2018
For The First Time, Biologists Track Cownose Rays to Florida and Back – Science Daily – 8/23/2018
For the First Time, Biologists Track Cownose Rays to Florida and Back – Shorelines – 8/23/2018
Cownose Ray Massacre, Following Shark-Dragging, Outrages Floridians – Animals 24/7 – 3/15/2018
Chesapeake Bay’s Misguided War on the Ray – Hakai Magazine – 6/14/17
Maryland Assembly Session Gives Environmentalists ‘Reason to Celebrate’ – Bay Journal – 4/12/17
State Officials May Regulate Cownose-Ray Killing Contests – U.S. News & World Report – 3/17/17
MD House Passes Cownose Ray Fishing Contest Moratorium – Bay Journal – 3/15/17
What Do We Really Know About Cownose Rays? – Chesapeake Bay News – 2/28/17
Two Year MD Moratorium on Cownose Ray Fishing Contests – Delmarva Public Radio – 2/14/17
Maryland Senate Unanimously Passes Moratorium on Cownose Ray Hunting – Baltimore Fishbowl – 2/14/17
MD Senate OKs Moratorium on Fishing for Cownose Rays – U.S. News & World Report – 2/13/17
Group Looks To Ban ‘Grotesque’ Cownose Ray Bowfishing Tournament – CBS Baltimore – 2/2/17
Whole Families Of Rays Are Being Killed For A ‘Contest’ – The Dodo – 2/2/17
Legislation Proposes Banning Cownose Ray Hunting Tournaments – The Baltimore Sun – 1/31/17
Bills Would Prohibit Cownose Ray Fishing Contests – WBAL TV 11- 1/31/17
Cownose Ray Tournaments Targeted in State Legislature – Dorchester Star – 1/31/17
Maryland Still Mulling Cownose Ray Bowfishing Limits – Bay Journal – 12/29/16
End the Senseless Slaughter of Cownose Rays – The Baltimore Sun – 12/25/16
Outdoors: Cownose Ray ‘Controversy’ Stirs Up Questions – Capital Gazette – 7/2/16
Advocates Continue Push Against Cownose Ray Killings – Capital Gazette – 7/6/16
Animal Rights Groups Ask Lawmakers to End ‘Cruel’ Cownose Ray Hunts – Fox 45 News – 7/6/16
GRAPHIC VIDEO: Sick Killers Shoot and Torture Mother and Baby Rays – Daily Star UK – 7/6/16
It’s Just an Excuse for a Bloodfest – Daily Mail UK – 7/6/16
Outdoors: Cownose Ray ‘Controversy’ Stirs Up Questions – Capital Gazette – 7/2/16
Letter to the Editor – Stop the Killing of Rays – The BayNet.com – 6/30/16
Cownose Rays Return, Scientists Refute Their Reputation as Oyster Bandits – Bay Weekly – 6/16/16
Where ‘Save the Bay, Eat a Ray’ Went Wrong – National Aquarium Water Blog – 5/16/16
Annie the Cownose Ray Loves Hula Hoops & Her Trainer – Azula – 4/27/16
Cownose Rays Aquitted: Not Guilty of Decimating Chesapeake Oysters – Smithsonian – 4/11/2016
Study Challenges Blaming Rays for Chesapeake Oyster Collapse – The Baltimore Sun – 3/11/2016
Marine Ecosystem Management Requires Intelligent Tinkering – Marine Fish Conservation Network – 3/9/2016
Ray Fillets Won’t Save the Bay – Discover Magazine – 2/24/2016
Study: Cownose Rays Not the Bad Guys of the Bay – Daily Press – 2/19/2016
Determining the Fate of the Cownose Ray – WVTF Public Radio – 2/19/2016
Researchers Set Record Straight on Sharks and Cownose Rays – Florida State 24/7 – 2/19/2016
Sharks and Cownose Rays – Nature World News – 2/18/2016
It Wasn’t the Rays’ Fault After All – WYPR – 2/17/2016
Cownose Ray of the Chesapeake Bay – The Ocean Foundation – 2/17/2016
Study Discounts Alleged Link Between Sharks, Rays and Bivalves – Phys.org – 2/16/2016
Cownose Rays Not to Blame for Shellfish Declines, Study Says – Bay Journal – 2/14/2016
Bow Fishermen Want Open Season on Cownose Rays – app.com – 12/24/15
The Beautiful Ray That Fishermen Have In Their Sights – Bay Journal – 12/17/15
Cownose Ray Workshop Shows New Research – The Kent County News – 10/30/15
Researchers Study Cownose Rays After Videos Capture Killings – CBS Baltimore – 10/23/15
Experts Meet to Discuss Future of Cownose Rays – WBAL TV 11 – 10/22/15
Sport Fishermen Target Cownose Rays In The Chesapeake Bay – All Things Considered (NPR) – 9/10/15
Bloody Tournament Video Intensifies Calls to Manage Cownose Rays – Bay Journal – 9/9/15
Animal Rights Activists Take on Cownose Ray Hunts – Southern Maryland Newspapers Online – 8/6/15
Bowfishing for Cownose Rays Targeted – Southern Maryland Newspapers Online – 7/31/15
Animal Rights Activists Seek to End Cownosed Ray Tournament – WBAL TV 11 – 7/22/15
Young Marylander’s Ray Killing Petition Reaches 90,000+ Signatures – Capital Gazette – 7/9/15
Activists Speak Out Against the Cruel Cownose Ray Tournament – Care2 – 7/2/15
Interview With Mary Finelli President Of Fish Feel – Fins and Fluke Radio – 6/30/15
Activists Call for End to Fishing Contest – WJZ-TV (CBS Baltimore) – 6/23/15
Animal Rights Group Alleges Abuse of Cownose Rays After Graphic Video Surfaces – ABC 7 – 6/22/15
Groups Seek Halt to Cownose Ray Tournament – WBAL TV 11 – 6/22/15
Md. Governor Asked to Stop Bay Bowfishing Tournament – WTOP – 6/22/15
Activists Call for End to Ray Fishing – Capital Gazette – 6/22/15
Additional Information
SHowing Animals Respect & Kindness (SHARK)
‘Killing Contests’ That Target Pregnant Females Threaten to Wipe Out This Graceful Ocean Animal