Thank you for considering…

Thank you for considering steps to better protect Ontario’s moose population. I support the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry's (MNRF's) proposed implementation of the the Big Game Management Advisory Committee's (BGMAC) recommended preference point tag allocation system, removal of the right of resident’s immediate family members to hunt, as well as limiting party hunting size and spread.

I hope that the Ministry will consider phasing out calf hunting given that Ontario's research scientists found that the calf hunt was additive rather than compensatory to natural mortality in central Ontario, and that females are more likely to abandon moose where they are hunted. Natural mortality is evolutionarily important – our wildlife communities co-evolved over millennia and make each other stronger. Relative to the moose on the landscape, wolves kill the youngest, oldest and weakest moose, leaving the strong moose behind to reproduce. BGMAC’s surveys show that most hunters support calf protection.

What won’t help our moose is the liberalization of wolf and coyote hunting. Eastern coyotes are generalists, not significant predators of moose. Moreover, it is unethical to allow unlimited killing of these animals, especially during pup-rearing season. More than 2,000 hunters were listed as actively hunting canids last year in the management units where the proposed changes would take place. If every active canid hunter from last year killed wolves, the wolf population would be devastated; game seals help limit interest. However, since wolves are difficult to hunt, the proposed regulation changes will likely only make wolf packs smaller. MNRF's website outlines that smaller wolf packs don’t eat significantly fewer moose than larger packs.

There is no sound science behind this proposal to open up wolf and coyote hunting. Liberal canid hunting may alter predation dynamics and removing the requirement for hunters to report their kills on an annual basis means that this proposal may have unknown and unintended consequences for other species that wolves impact. For example, wolves might switch to caribou if packs are weakened because caribou are easier to kill compared to moose. Woodland caribou are a threatened species.

I urge the Ontario government to abandon the proposal to liberalize wolf and coyote hunting, move forward with proposed actions to conserve our moose, and phase out calf hunting. I ask that reporting requirements and their enforcement be strengthened. Data is at the heart of effective wildlife conservation; a lack of reporting requirements demonstrates the government's unwillingness to take the management of our wildlife, a public trust belonging to all Ontarians, as seriously as is claimed. Apex predators are essential to maintaining biodiversity, and as an Ontario resident, their existence in the province is a priority to me.