A coyote-killing competition in Ottawa has animal welfare groups up in arms.

The "Great Coyote Cull Contest" gives participants a chance to win a new shotgun in a draw if they provide proof of their kills.

The competition is sponsored by the Osgoode Township Fish, Game and Conservation Club in the city's rural southern outskirts. It was advertised in one of Osgoode city Coun. Doug Thompson's weekly newsletters to constituents in December.

Donna Dubreuil, president of the Ottawa-Carleton Wildlife Centre, called the contest an "18th-century response" to complaints from local residents about the increasing number of coyotes roaming their neighbourhoods.

"It's really kind of embarrassing," she said.

As of Monday morning, neither Thompson nor members of the game club's executive could be reached to comment about the contest.

Residents in Osgoode ward have complained in recent years that coyotes are rummaging through their garbage, and accuse them of killing local pets. In 2007, the City of Ottawa hired trappers to capture some coyotes after about 20 cats and dogs went missing.

Dubreuil said the coyote cull contest launched at a time when other cities are gearing up to celebrate 2010 as the United Nations International Year of Biodiversity. People shocked by it have been calling from as far away as Vancouver and California, asking if it is for real, she added.

The Canadian Federation of Humane Societies is also publicly protesting the contest.

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