I can’t believe that this is…

I can’t believe that this is even being considered it is a not a sign of conservation but destruction!

This proposal will leave thousands of dependent baby birds to die of overheating, hypothermia, thirst or starvation, a cruelty that would be illegal under the Criminal Code of Canada. It takes both parents to tend the eggs and young.

The proposal to amend the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Act to add provisions so hunters could allow cormorant to spoil would create health and environmental hazards from the large numbers of rotting birds.

This would result in increased gun use and subsequent disturbance, particularly in cottage country during family vacation time. It encourages stress and division between the non-hunting majority and the pro-hunting minority by appealing to those who most want to kill animals, without regard to their suffering.

This will definitely cater to the pro-gun lobby groups effectively saying that guns and killing solve problems which it does not! What’s to stop a hunter from shooting another bird and saying “Oops I thought I was aiming at a cormorant”. Other bird species will be at risk from this as well.

Other birds like the Herring Gull, Ring-billed Gull, Common Tern, Caspian Tern, Black-crowned Night Herons, Great Blue Herons, and Great Egrets will also be disturbed during their breeding season by this hunting activity.

This will push the cormorant back to endangered status, necessitating full protection for them again.

Encourages the belief, contrary to all scientific evidence, expressed by some groups (commercial fishing industry, property owners) and individuals that cormorants have been detrimental to fish populations, island forest habitats, other species and aesthetics.

The public needs to be educated about the environment and not mislead. Study after study has demonstrated double-crested cormorants do not seriously affect fish stocks. They mostly eat species of fish of no commercial value and not favoured by sporting anglers.

This makes Ontarians look uneducated by allowing native species to be killed in non-sustainable numbers. I know Ontarians are better than this, please stop this, do not let it happen. We need to protect our wildlife they do not belong to us. We are guardians that care for them so that our children and their children will be able to enjoy them and watch them soar. Once they are extinct there is no going back and I personally do not want to see that happen!

Thank you for taking the time to read my message and please stop this.