Stop Shoot-to-Kill Wildlife Policy
Stop Ontario’s Bill 205
The Wynne Ontario government is at it again, this time considering a ‘shoot-to-kill’ wildlife policy that allows hunters and anglers to have the authority to destroy entire colonies of nesting Double-crested Cormorants simply because they wrongly believe that cormorants are interfering with their fisheries – a perception not supported in science.
Bill 205 allows hunters and anglers to indiscriminately destroy entire colonies of nesting cormorants without any consideration for other members of the public that may appreciate and enjoy the presence of such colonies in their communities or on crown land.
If this Bill passes, anyone would have the legal right to eradicate entire colonies — including eggs and chicks. And as cormorants are colonial waterbirds that nest in large colonies, eradicating them could be easily accomplished by either setting fire to their ground colonies, which has happened in central Ontario, or shooting them beneath the nest as they sit quietly incubating their eggs in tree tops.
Bill 205 was introduced by MPP Bob Bailey Sarnia Lambton who misinformed the legislature when he stated that Michigan and New York states implement successful and measured cormorant control programs.
The Michigan and New York cormorant control programs were forced to shut down when in April of this year, the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, found the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service guilty of ‘biological malpractice’ when they extended Double-crested Cormorant depredation orders to both New York and Michigan and 22 other states east of the Mississippi.
The court concluded that:
o The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) had ignored the environmental benefits of cormorants, such as curbing invasive fish populations, and helping co-nesting species. Moreover, its predictions of adverse eco-effects was unsupported and rested upon “abstract” and “tentative” assertions; and;
o The FWS claims of economic disruption were “imprecise,” “speculative,” and not “compelling.”
What the U.S. federal court found to be illegal, is exactly what BILL 205 is supporting - an open-ended depredation order where anyone can kill a Double-crested Cormorant for any reason - legally.
We take no issue with Double-crested Cormorants and appreciate their ecological role in maintaining healthy aquatic ecosystems.
Bill 205 is not supported either socially or scientifically and as such does not deserve serious consideration. Please drop this draconian wildlife policy. I resent sport hunters and anglers dictating wildlife policy for the rest of us.
Thank You
