This proposal is one of the…

This proposal is one of the most absurd ideas to come out of the current government administration.

First, the cormorant not fit to be consumed as a game bird — would you eat a seagull? Are pigeons next to be listed for the hunt as they damage buildings where they roost? These proposals would be just as absurd.

Second, a cormorant hunt would also put other endangered or at risk species in greater peril. Herons, loons and other shorebirds could be easily mistaken for cormorants, and with the additional proposal to allow for hunters to leave carcasses to rot, our waterways and wetland ecosystems would be further endangered by careless human intervention and poisoned because some individuals hold a human-centric belief that cormorant colonies are “unsightly”.

Cormorant populations have only just recently begun to recover from the decimating effects of environmental pollution and it is apparent that we cannot ever learn from past mistakes made under previous Conservative Party governments.

Finally, one can only suspect that this proposal come from direct lobbying of organizations and individuals with direct ties to government — asking Mr. Yakabuski and Mr. Ford to allow the slaughter of a species so that the view from their cottages aren’t tainted by a cormorant colony — since there is no scientific, ecological or financial reason for such a proposal to be brought forward. Commercial fishing interests are not affected by the presence of cormorants, who eat smaller, shallow dwelling fish and not larger species that would be harvested for commercial purposes.

I urge the government to heed the advice of such well-respected scientific organizations as Bird Studies Canada, Ontario Field Ornithologists, and others nature conservancy initiatives, and remove this ill-thought out proposal from consideration and throw it into the garbage bin where it belongs.