Please abandon the…

Please abandon the Government of Ontario's proposal to introduce an open hunting season on Double-crested Cormorants from March 15 to December 31. It has no basis in scientific knowledge and neglects the interests of a wide variety of citizens who interact with wildlife without killing it. Often-repeated concerns by some hunters and recreational anglers that cormorants negatively impact fish populations, forest habitat, and other species have been thoroughly qualified or debunked. Killing waterbirds does not address the root causes of fish population instability or decline, and directly contradicts current conservation measures at local, regional, national, and international levels.

The government's hunting proposal is gratuitous, irresponsible, and cruel. If only 1 in 100 Ontarian hunters each killed only 50 cormorants over an entire hunting season, this would still be enough to eradicate the species from the Great Lakes entirely. The Double-crested Cormorant is a native species to Ontario whose population has only recently recovered from human persecution and pollution-induced declines. This is no time to go backwards. This species has a right to exist and feed on its native land, and the government has an ethical and legal responsibility to ensure its relative health.