I'm opposed to the proposal…

I'm opposed to the proposal to hunt Double-Crested Cormorants in Ontario.

The legislation, as it's written, amounts to an all-out attack on a species. It is a kind of scapegoating that is being suggested to appease Ontario residents who are concerned about environmental problems such as climate change, pollution, shoreline and habitat destruction, and commercial over-fishing, but who feel helpless to solve them. The wholesale slaughter of cormorants is not the answer to the environmental challenges facing shoreline communities.

The Double-Crested Cormorant is a species that is part of the shoreline ecosystem of the Great Lakes. The invasion of their territories by hunters will disrupt other bird species that live in proximity to cormorant colonies.

This proposal seems to me to have little to do with addressing environmental concerns, or with implementing science-based policy. It has the appearance of being a politician's response to special interest group pressure. We can do much better in Ontario. Please leave cormorant colonies, and the other species who live with and near them, in peace.