Allow me to say, with…

Allow me to say, with respect, I firmly REJECT the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry’s proposal to allow new licenses and the transfer of licenses for training and trial areas in Ontario.

Penned dog hunting facilities are cruel to the wild animals that are subjected to the various methods used to train dogs to hunt. The stresses and terror these wild animals are subject to cannot be ameliorated but are inescapable due to the activity. I cannot support such activity because I detest cruelty and the suffering which accompanies it.

Wildlife should never be taken from their natural environments and held captive by hunters. It’s especially cruel to use rabbits, coyotes, and foxes as bait for hunters to train dogs and hold competitions. These activities are inherently cruel and cause suffering - this is an inescapable fact.

“We look back in history and count many, many common practices of past times - then accepted by society - and shudder with horror. What will future generations think of us? What will they look back on and be appalled by? Beside our destruction of the natural world, surely our cruel and vicious treatment of sentient animals, will be one of them.”

“The question is not whether they think, but if they suffer… and they do, terribly, at human hands."

Opening applications for train and trial spaces after 25 years is a massive step backward into the past. These facilities have no place in Ontario. Instead of opening new applications, the province’s existing 24 facilities need to be closed immediately.