I am a rural Ontarian who…

I am a rural Ontarian who has had to control coyotes and foxes in the protection of livestock on several occasions and have practiced responsible hunting of small game in the past. I also own a dog which will soon be charged with protecting livestock. I disagree that penned hunting of animals by dogs should see its practice expanded and further licensed. Wherever control and harvest of any small game is warranted, efforts should be directed at humane methods. Competition should never justify causing pain and suffering to an animal, in line with other laws preventing animal abuse. I have personally witnessed that the death of wild animals in nature is often violent; humans should however play no part in forcing a cruel, stressful environment with a high probability of painful predatory death on any animal.

As it regards the attempt to keep such facilities from going underground, I firmly believe the Province should instead focus on education and enforcement even if done in parallel to an extended phase out. In the meanwhile, remaining facilities which have a justified need to exist beyond any competitive or sport hunting reason should be operated directly by or very closely supervised and inspected by provincial authorities.

While the following was taken from the Animal Alliance of Canada, I support the points as written:

I firmly reject the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry’s proposal to allow new licenses and the transfer of licenses for train and trial areas in Ontario.
Penned dog hunting facilities are cruel to the wild animals who are subjected to various methods used to train dogs to hunt.
Wildlife should never be taken from their natural environments and held captive by hunters. It’s especially cruel to use rabbits, coyotes, and foxes as pawns for hunters to train dogs and hold competitions.
Opening applications for train and trial spaces after 25 years is a massive step backward into the past. These facilities have no place in Ontario.