I am horrified that the…

I am horrified that the Ontario government is considering a hunt such as this. It is a cruel, outmoded way of dealing with human/wildlife conflict and there is absolutely no reason for it.

Please consider the following:

The presence of cormorants benefits other water birds such as herons, egrets and pelicans...all of which have stable or growing populations where cormorants are found.

The mass killing of cormorants is not only cruel but it will not be beneficial. In fact, the killing will only mean that other bird species will vacate these same nesting areas and therefore their populations will be negatively affected as well.

There is no way to kill cormorants humanely. Even controlled, organized culls in other regions have resulted in large numbers of injured and crippled birds being left to die of their wounds or starve to death, including nestlings.

Cormorants are beneficial because their diet consists of very large numbers of primarily invasive fish, such as alewives and round gobies, as well as other non-commercial, non-forage species.

The mass killing of cormorants will damage the environment and disrupt natural ecosystem processes.

The return of cormorants, a native wildlife species, to the Great Lakes Basin is part of a natural process.

Cormorants are not overabundant in the Great Lakes. In fact, their numbers are modest, now stabilized and are dropping in many areas.

The number of trees damaged or destroyed in colonial waterbird colonies across the province is miniscule and wouldn’t even equal the number of trees in a single modestly-sized woodlot.

Only a small number of islands (less than 3%) and peninsula sites are available for cormorants and other colonial waterbirds to nest on.

The mass killing being proposed by the Ontario government is a political response to anecdotes, unsubstantiated claims and complaints by a small group of radical fishermen, supported by special interest groups. There is no substantive body of scientific evidence supporting their position.

Instead of making cormorants a scapegoat for environmental problems they have nothing to do with, attention should be given to addressing the issues that actually do affect fish populations and aquatic environments, such as climate change, pollution, shoreline and habitat destruction, overfishing and a broad range of other issues.

The proposed designation of cormorants as game animals, along with a non-utilization exemption that allows the carcasses to rot should be an affront to every hunter who believes in sportsmanship, fair chase and ethics.

I urge the Ontario government to shelve the idea of making cormorants game animals. It is completely unnecessary and will only result in more rampant destruction of our wild animals and their habitats.