Fire Dept. Squirrel Kill: Prizes for 7th Annual Event in Hazzard County

Nothing gets you going like a good, old-fashioned squirrel-shooting? You heard correct, folks.

This weekend, a squirrel-shooting contest in upstate New York will be a sell-out with a 1,000 tickets spoken for, according to organizers, despite a push by animal rights groups and others to cancel the event. The 7^th annual "Hazzard County Squirrel Slam" will raise money for the volunteer Holley Fire Department, according to the event sponsor.

Prizes will be given out at the event, ranging from $50 to $200 for the largest squirrel shot and the heaviest group of five squirrels. Five rifles and shotguns are to be raffled off, according to a flier on the western New York fire department's website.

However, some critics have sought to stop the event through online petitions and protests, calling the event cruel and a bad example for children, which targets red and gray squirrels and is open to anyone over the age of 12 with a hunting license.

"Declaring someone a winner for killing the most animals influences children and the wider community to believe that wildlife is unimportant and killing for a monetary prize is meritorious," Brian Shapiro, New York state director of the Humane Society of the United States, wrote in a letter to Holley Fire Chief Pete Hendrickson.

Yet supports of the event stress that hunting is just part of life upstate, including in the largely rural village of 1,800 people on the Erie Canal.

"This is a community of hunters and they're going to hunt anyways. Why not hold a fundraiser that will reach our community," the event's chairwoman, Tina Reed, told the Democrat and Chronicle of Rochester. She said the event has grown each year: This year, 1,000 tickets were made available after it sold out of 200 tickets last year.

As for next year, who's to say.