Hello, As an Ontario…

Hello,
As an Ontario resident I strongly object to the Ministry’s proposal to amend the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Act, 1997 to permit the expansion of licences for new dog train and trial areas and the transfer of licences.

This practice has been deemed to be animal cruelty and that is one of the reasons why the Ontario Government passed legislation in 1997 to begin phasing this out. It is my understanding that this "train and trial" activity has been banned in all other provinces across Canada and throughout most of the U.S.

One can only imagine the terror the wild animals must endure while trapped in penned areas and being hunted down by dogs for the entertainment of so-called sports hunters (who call this inhumane activity "training").

To my family it doesn't matter if there are "sustainable" populations of rabbits, coyotes or red fox, the simple fact that these are used as bait for training purposes is unconscionable.

Your department should be concentrating on protecting wildlife and must continue to phase out existing train and trial areas, not expand them further to the whims of a very few.