I do not agree with the…

I do not agree with the changes being proposed to the Endangered Species Act. Our wildlife populations are already on the decline, and it is easy to find stats that prove this time and time again. There's also a visual representation of this by looking out a window and noticing that there are fewer birds around year after year. A study was just released May 1st 2025 that outlines the decline of birds in North America. "North American bird populations are declining most severely in areas where they should be thriving, according to a groundbreaking study published May 1 in Science." More information can be found here at (https://news.cornell.edu/stories/2025/05/north-american-bird-population…). If birds are declining in areas where they should be thriving that indicates that we are encroaching on their habitats. “Areas where species are increasing where they're at low abundance may be places where conservation has been successful and populations are recovering, or they may point to locations where there may be potential for recovery” (cornell.edu). Conservation and protection is key in the preservation of wildlife and endangered species.

"A 2019 paper published in Science reported a cumulative population loss of nearly 3 billion birds in Canada and the U.S. since 1970. “The 2019 paper was telling us that we have an emergency, and now with this work we have the information needed to create an emergency response plan,” said Johnston." (cornell.edu) Where is Ontario's emergency response plan? We need to be protecting our wildlife more, not less. The process should be slow to ensure that habitats are impacted the least amount possible. We cannot live on this planet without these habitats and ecosystems and to think we are above that is extremely egotistical. Declines are happening not only to endangered species, if we aren't even protecting those that are endangered then what's left to help those that aren't yet.

I love Ontario for its nature, summers spent at a cottage up north and waking up listening to the birds singing their beautiful unique songs. Ontario is a place you want to be, because it's full of life and wonder and beauty. If we aren't protecting that, then what is left of Ontario? I'm not proposing we don't build homes or infrastructure; I'm proposing that we keep protecting what makes Ontario beautiful and unique. I'm proposing we keep protecting life that is so vulnerable, nature that's already been so incredibly harmed by pollution and displaced by cutting down trees and building plazas. We can coexist with nature, we can build smart. It may take longer, but I will always say it's more than worth it. These ecosystems deserve to be cared for, deserved to be thought of and deserve to be protected. I will not stand by and let greed ruin what is so amazing about Ontario.

Nature should not be seen as "complicated" to deal with or something that "slows" things down. We should be the ones slowing down to appreciate nature. All I hear from this proposal is that Ontario wants to take the easy way out, and push nature to the side for its own selfish gains. We can keep building with nature in mind. I will leave you with a quote from Ghandi 'The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated. He said 'I hold that the more helpless a creature, the more entitled it is to protection by man from the cruelty of man,'.

Thank you

Source: https://news.cornell.edu/stories/2025/05/north-american-bird-population…