Overall, this looks good. I…

Overall, this looks good. I really like that no sport hunting or fishing, and no commercial trapping will occur in this park. An urban provincial park will protect the Oak Ridges Moraine and will provide crucial wildlife habitat. The one concern I have is the “control” or “management” of “hyperabundant” wildlife, or individual animals being “controlled” to “protect human health, species health, or to “protect park values or ecological integrity”.

“Hyperabundance” is determined by what we consider “too many animals”. Killing animals doesn’t reduce the numbers long term. Montreal and regions cull deer year after year with no real long lasting results. What does result is a lot of suffering, and a waste of taxpayer dollars that could be used on humane and effective alternatives like “deer spas” (lint roller feeders that remove ticks) and contraception like Spay Vac.

Animals should not be “controlled” (ie, trapped and/or shot) because they don’t follow arbitrary “park values”. And if animals are in an ecosystem, they are there for a reason. As for health and safety concerns, there are plenty of wildlife rehabilitation centres that provide medical care, as well as National Wildlife Centre in Caledon that is a state of the art wildlife hospital. These organizations can handle all the animal health and safety concerns.

www.nationalwildlifecentre.ca

www.ontariowildliferescue.ca