I would like to express my…

I would like to express my opposition to the proposal for public hunting of double-crested cormorants mainly for the following reasons:

Policies and procedures regarding the hunting of Ontario’s wildlife must be strictly supported by a voluminous amount of accredited scientific data. This proposal aims for an open public hunt with a high bag limit for a native predatory species that has only recently recovered in population numbers. The impetus behind this proposal is from a small group of land owners and the hunting and fishing communities and not from those intimately acquainted with the delicate intricacies of freshwater and population ecology.

This proposed hunt would occur during the breeding period of many bird species who share similar habitat with the cormorants such as turns and colonial nesting egrets and herons. This would add unnecessary stressors to populations of species that are already sensitive and vulnerable to declining numbers.

The impending uncertainties associated with climate change make future predictions about population management difficult if not impossible. Allowing a hunt to occur in the magnitude of this proposal could reduce populations to be vulnerable in the face of climatic changes. This proposal would allow a single hunter to eliminate 14,000 individual cormorants in a season and annihilate entire colonies in a day.

This proposed hunt unjustifiably condones the vilification and disrespect of a native species by the government agency that claims to protect Ontario’s biodiversity. Alowing this proposed slaughter, with its outrageously high bag limit and open season, propagates indifference for the natural environment. This disregard is magnified by the fact that the proposal allows hunters to shoot and leave carcasses to rot. The current culling practices on cormorants have shown that many birds that are shot at are only severely injured and the practice has proven to be inhumane.