14 FACTS ABOUT THE ONTARIO…

14 FACTS ABOUT THE ONTARIO CORMORANT ISSUE!

1. The Ontario government’s proposal will allow individuals with a small game license to kill up to 50 cormorants per day! That works out to approximately 1,500 cormorants per month, or, up to 14,250 cormorants, for the entire proposed annual hunting season!

2. The presence of cormorants benefits other colonial water birds, such as herons, egrets, and, pelicans, all of which are stable, or, growing where cormorants are found!

3. The mass killing of cormorants is cruel, and, will not be beneficial! In fact, the process of killing them will force other bird species to vacate the colony sites they share!

4. There is no way to kill cormorants humanely! Even controlled, organized culls in other regions have resulted in large numbers of injured, and, crippled, birds being left to die of their wounds, or, starve to death, including nestlings!

5. Cormorants are beneficial because their diet consists of very large numbers of primarily invasive fish, such as alewives, and, round gobies, as well as other non-commercial, non-forage species!

6. The mass killing of cormorants will damage the environment, and, disrupt natural ecosystem processes!

7. The return of cormorants, a native wildlife species, to the Great Lakes Basin is part of a natural process!

8. Cormorants are not overabundant in the Great Lakes! In fact, their numbers are modest, now stabilized, and, are dropping in many areas!

9. Changes in the composition of vegetation in, and, around, bird colonies are a sign of vibrant, dynamic, natural, ecosystem processes!

10. The number of trees damaged, or, destroyed, in colonial waterbird colonies across the province is MINISCULE, and, would not even equal the number of trees in a single modestly-sized woodlot!

11. Only a small number of islands (less than 3%) and, peninsula, sites are available for cormorants, and, other colonial waterbirds to nest on!

12. The mass killing being proposed by the Ontario government is a political response to ANECDOTES, UNSUBSTANTIATED CLAIMS, AND, COMPLAINTS, BY A SMALL GROUP OF RADICAL FISHERMEN, SUPPORTED BY SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS! THERE IS NO SUBSTANTIVE BODY OF SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE SUPPORTING THEIR POSITION!

13. INSTEAD OF MAKING CORMORANTS A SCAPEGOAT FOR ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEMS THAT THEY HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH, ATTENTION SHOULD BE GIVEN TO ADDRESSING THE ISSUES THAT ACTUALLY DO AFFECT FISH POPULATIONS, AND, AQUATIC ENVIRONMENTS, SUCH AS CLIMATE CHANGE, POLLUTION, SHORELINE, AND, HABITAT DESTRUCTION, OVER-FISHING, AND, A BROAD RANGE OF OTHER ISSUES!

14. The proposed designation of cormorants as game animals, along with a non-utilization exemption, that allows the carcasses to rot, should be an affront to every hunter who believes in sportsmanship, fair chase, and, ethics!