My Opposition to ERO # 019…

My Opposition to ERO # 019-3685

I'm writing to express my opposition to the proposal to offer new train and trial licenses, and to transfer existing licenses to new licensees.

The penning of wildlife (foxes, coyotes, rabbits) and the training of dogs to attack and kill them are practices that cause animal suffering simply for the thrill experienced by the men and women(?) involved. Causing animals to fight each other for human entertainment is an unsavoury exercise that understandably has become an "*underground* hobby". Blood sports like dog and cock fighting, and the training of dogs to kill wildlife, have no place in 21st-century Canada.

Offering new opportunities for this, and extending the terms of existing licenses, open Ontario to accepting similar repellent practices such as bear-baiting and pig-dogging. This would be a deplorable development. A society that claims concern for animal welfare will draw a line at current licenses and allow them to expire as time goes by. I believe this was the intention of the Harris government that ceased to issue new licenses after 1997.

If any action is to be taken to address the existence of wildlife penning areas in Ontario, it should be to close the current areas - for the protection of wildlife and dogs- not to transfer existing licenses or issue new ones.

Thank you.