Dear Sir/ Madame, It is…

Dear Sir/ Madame,

It is inconceivable that the purposed Cormorant hunt would allow a hunter
to kill 50 Cormorants a day and leave their bodies to rot or even worse to die slowly
because they have only been wounded. What becomes of the nestlings? This hunt
as it has been purposed is barbaric and disheartening that we have so little respect
for a bird that plays an important part in the ecological system. The animal kingdom
lives in harmony when the human species does not interfere.
This so called hunt, plain and simple is slaughter . For the first time ever since game laws came into
being, it would be legal to let carcasses spoil. The governments way of dealing with the cormorants
as it stands is extermination or extinction to please a few select groups. It is certainly not for the
environment!
Please read the attached important file on "Facts on Cormorant Issue"

14 facts about the Double-crested 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 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 wouldn't 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 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, overfishing 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.

Yours truly