This draconian, outdated and…

This draconian, outdated and ill founded plan to slaughter cormorants will:

-cause unimaginable cruelty by allowing the wholesale, uncontrolled, impossible to monitor, slaughter of cormorants across the province,
-devastate and possibly eradicate a recovered native wildlife species since they have just recovered from near eradication
-result in disturbance, destruction and death of numerous federally protected non-target bird species such as Great Blue Herons, Great Egrets and White Pelicans,
-irreparably damage natural ecosystems,
-encourage the worst form of “slob hunting,”
-endanger the public by allowing hunters to discharge firearms throughout the spring, summer and fall season when lakes and natural areas are populated by cottagers and tourists.

In conclusion:

Concerns about environmental damage and fish stock depletion are largely just anecdotes, complaints from a small, radical segment of the fishing community, and unsubstantiated claims that were debunked long ago. There is no substantive body of evidence proving that cormorants are depleting fish stocks or causing any ecological problems whatsoever.

The reality is that cormorants are a natural part of Ontario’s rich biodiversity and an ecologically beneficial species, being major predators of invasive fish species, like round gobies and alewives, attracting other waterbirds to their nesting sites, and serving other important functions in the ecosystems they inhabit.

Please rethink this barbaric stupidity!