I am glad to see this…

I am glad to see this proposal. I know that the OHC has been very diligent in working with the northern goshawk and there will be no impact on taking 5 of these birds annually. In fact in the future if anything it should have a positive impact on the population. Since only about 20% of first year birds make it to their second year in the wild there is a very good chance the birds taken would not have survived. If however after a year or two of flying as a falconry bird it is released it stands a very high chance of survival as it has been nurtured through that all too tough first year.

Eliminating the lottery will also help allowing an apprentice to have the total falconry experience from trapping the bird, to manning and eventually flying it freely on wild quarry.

In many provinces the only raptor with limited catch is the peregrine and these provinces do not show any indication that allowing falconers to take other wild raptors is affecting these populations at all. In fact in Saskatchewan due to the efforts of the Saskatchewan Falconry Association digging nesting holes (staring in the '70's) for the prairie falcon they have increased the number of prairie falcons. Falconers are by far the best raptor conservationists as they care more than any other group for the welfare of all raptors.