I request as a Canadian…

I request as a Canadian citizen, Ontario resident, taxpayer and voter, that the Government of Ontario reject the "Proposal to establish a hunting season for double-crested cormorants in Ontario".

The idea of allowing people to shoot the species over nine and a half months each year, at a rate of 50 animals per day per person and allowing carcasses to be left behind, makes it clear that the intention behind the proposal is simply the mass slaughter of these birds.

The proposal debases hunting, and the very notion of citing "aesthetics" as an argument for killing wildlife just goes against any common sense.

Allowing such a "hunt" would be massively destructive given the size of the cormorant populations, not to mention how cruel it would be, as many would certainly be left injured and their chicks would be left to die slowly.

It runs contrary to any sensible notion of conservation, natural resource management, and basic humanity.

The species in question inhabits internationally shared waters, and therefore Ontario has a responsibility to protect this shared wildlife, if not out of respect for the species, at the very least out of respect for the Ontarians who do value it and out of respect for our neighbours.

I take the opportunity to request that our provincial government replace the proposal in question with a new initiative to strengthen the protection of double-crested cormorants in Ontario and, as part of such an effort and also as a clearly needed social service, to allocate resources towards providing psychiatric assistance or psychological counselling to individuals who show an urge to massacre birds.

Should the latter individuals and any proponents of the "hunting season" in question insist that double-crested cormorants are damaging fishing stocks, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry should make an effort to recruit them into work that addresses the issues that actually do affect fish populations and aquatic environments, such as climate change, pollution, shoreline and habitat destruction, overfishing and irresponsible motorboat use in fish feeding and spawning grounds.

The arguments being put forward to justify the proposal don't hold water. The proposal to unleash a mass killing of cormorants seems to be a political response to anecdotes, unsubstantiated claims and complaints, the product of one or more persons who hold a deeply irrational dislike for the species. Those individuals are most likely far fewer than those who, like myself, completely oppose the proposal -and quite importantly, here is no substantive body of scientific evidence to support the proposal.

On the other hand, it is known that the presence of cormorants benefits other colonial water birds, such as herons, egrets and pelicans, all of which are stable or growing where cormorants are found. The mass killing of cormorants would not be beneficial. In fact, the process of killing them would force other bird species to vacate the colony sites they share.

Quite importantly, 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. Also, the killing of large numbers of cormorants that the proposal would certainly unleash would damage the environment and disrupt natural ecosystem processes.

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 return of cormorants to the Great Lakes is part of a natural process.

Last, but certainly not least, cormorants are not overabundant in the Great Lakes. In fact, their numbers are modest, now stabilized and are dropping in many areas. Changes in the composition of vegetation in and around bird colonies are a sign of vibrant, dynamic natural ecosystem processes. 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.

For the above and numerous other reasons, including our provincial Government's duty to protect our wildlife, promote responsible enjoyment of our resources, and its duty of care, I urge the prompt and definitive rejection of the "Proposal to establish a hunting season for double-crested cormorants in Ontario".