The Ford government's…

The Ford government's proposal to establish a hunting season on Ontario's Double-crested Cormorant population flies in the face of science, fact and good environmental stewardship. It sounds more like a way to appease the hunters and anglers of this province, with little concern for the overall impact of such a plan.

For example, almost all Double-crested Cormorant colonies contain several other colonial waterbird species, including:

1) Herring Gull
2) Ring-billed Gull
3) Common Tern
4) Caspian Tern
5) Black-crowned Night Herons
6) Great Blue Herons
7) Great Egrets
8) White Pelicans

In other words, 8 other species will also be disturbed during their breeding season by this hunting activity.

In fact, the potential damage from this faulty proposal will be egregious: When Ontario Parks began culling cormorants at Presqu’ile Provincial Park, they lost the ONLY Great Blue Heron breeding colony on Lake Ontario, which was embedded among the cormorants for protection against predators.

There are many more reasons to prevent this proposal, but based on the above facts alone there is reason enough to stop the plan from ever becoming a reality. If we are to protect our coastal water birds at this critical point in time when more and more species are endangered and threatened by habitat loss and fragmentation, we do not need to add mindless hunting to the list of reasons for species decline and demise.

I am the owner of a private wetland in southwestern Ontario and I try very hard to protect species and biodiversity. As a citizen of Ontario, I am appalled by this proposal. Please, do not grant the government the right to establish this needless and wasteful attack on a symbol of our great lakes.