Please please do the right…

Please please do the right thing for nature.

I am writing in response to the proposed changes to moose management and wolf and coyote hunting regulations in Northern Ontario (ERO 019-0405 and ERO 019-0406). Please consider this my written submission to the public review.

I appreciate your government’s undertaking of a review to better support the province’s moose population. They are under threat, and without serious action from your government and others across the country, the continued existence of this national icon is at risk.

To that end, your proposals to limit party hunting size and remove the right of a resident’s immediate family members to hunt are welcome measures to ensure a responsible and sustainable hunt.

However, your proposal to ease restrictions on wolf and coyote hunting is based on flawed beliefs. There is no scientific evidence that wolf and coyote predation are driving moose decline. In fact, they have been co-existing in a predator-prey dynamic for thousands of years.

Easing regulations around wolf and coyote hunting, including through the elimination of reporting requirements and special game seals, and extending the coyote hunting season to virtually year-round, is irresponsible. We should be strengthening reporting requirements and enforcement, and looking for ways to support healthy ecosystems and all of the species that depend on them.

In 2016, the previous government recognized the shortcomings of similar proposals to penalize moose predators without scientific backing. Thousands of Ontarians spoke up then — and we’re speaking up again.

Please listen to us. Listen to the science. Help protect the biodiversity that has made Ontario so special for generations past, and with your action, generations to come.