Thank you for the…

Thank you for the opportunity and for considering public input with regards to this proposed amendment in the matter of regulating falconry in Ontario. I am a veterinarian in the province of Ontario. A friend of mine is a veterinarian and avid falconer. Falconry is a passion to its practitioners in Ontario. While partaking in hunting, they steward the environment and look after the welfare of the animals and the ecosystem. The way they do this is by helping the welfare of the predators in the ecosystem and improving their chances of surviving past one year of age. The positive impact of the Ontario Hawking Club (OHC) on the environment is largely unseen. By improving the predator population in the ecosystem, this helps to improve the balance of the populations in the ecosystem and then this can help with reducing the spread of diseases. This can improve ecosystem health. The regrowth of peregrine falcon populations in Ontario is due to the efforts of the OHC. Their work has contributed to their overall resurgence in North America.

By doing away with the draw where a small number of people may get a chance at getting a new hawk every year: this makes it difficult to grow falconry in Ontario. Even worse, experienced falconers may never get a chance to get a bird in several years and this could make it difficult to continue in the sport. When people build their lives around taking care of their falcon and partaking in the sport, the lack of access to raptors is a major problem: it could mean that the OHC would lose members if they lose the chance to get a bird in several years. Taking wild raptors from the environment would not be deleterious to the environment and will not result in birds that can't re-adjust to life in the wild again; in fact, birds are returned to the wild after spending enough time with the particular falconer. Goshawk populations can be better assessed with falconers going into the wild and tracking this instead of trying to go about tracking by traditional means. Without falconers, we would not have an idea about goshawk populations in Ontario. By allowing limited, evidence-based procurement of goshawks for used by experienced and capable falconers, this helps to improve surveillance of this population and gives another opportunity for citizen-led environmental stewardship.

By improving access to raptors, the removal of the draw improves the chance of survival of falconry in Ontario. This improves the ability to have more citizen-led environmental stewardship and improves conservation in the province. By accepting the proposed changes, this helps the sport of falconry and the environment.

Thank you for your consideration.