TORONTO, Sept. 29, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- On September 15, 2021 the second cormorant hunting season began. “The worst fears of wildlife enthusiasts and outdoors people are being realized,” says Barry MacKay, contributing member, Great Lakes Cormorants (GLC).
As result of abandoning evidence-based wildlife management, the Ontario cormorant slaughter could wipe out the birds in the province, something many hunters seem to want. “The vitriol, irrational and emotionally driven hatred of cormorants we’re hearing about and encountering online is alarming and scary,” continued MacKay.
Sample quotes from the page (www.facebook.com/groups/330976845002713/about/):
- Thanks for ridding our lakes and waterways of this useless and destructive bird.
- Tell dawg. Thanks for his service…kill the smelly bastards
- Should have a bounty on them until extinction!
- No way in hell I’m eating a cormorant lol double bag and in the dumpster
- What‘s the allowed daily limit? 15 each and no bag limit but who cares, shoot them all
“These disturbing quotes show why cormorants need protection and why every responsible, ethical nature lover and outdoors enthusiast should be extremely concerned. The claim that a native wildlife species is useless and should be wiped out is uninformed, unscientific and dangerous to all wildlife. It also portrays some outdoorspeople in an extremely negative way and will do nothing except damage their reputations,” adds GLC contributing member Liz White.
“Compared with the catastrophic effects humans have caused to large and small waterways, shorelines and islands, cormorant-caused impacts to the natural environment are trivial, at best. It’s tragic that some hunters don’t understand that and that officials have given them a green light to wage a war on a native Ontario wildlife species,” said GLC contributing member Rob Laidlaw.
Great Lakes Cormorants is an international collective of scientists, experts, landowners, sportsmen, concerned members of the public and non-governmental organizations who acknowledge the beneficial ecological role that cormorants and other fish-eating birds play in the environments they inhabit. GLC is pushing for termination of the Ontario cormorant hunting season.
Contact: Liz White: 416-809-4371
Barry MacKay: 905-472-9731
General e-mail: greatlakescormorants@gmail.com
For more information: www.greatlakescormorants.com
