Hunt that begins today will allow hunters to kill 15 birds daily; ‘They might as well as be shooting loons and great blue herons … it’s mind boggling, says naturalist

While the province says it’s a necessary step, its widespread double-crested cormorant cull that begins today is drawing some pointed criticism.

“It’s going to be a disaster for people with minimal impact on the cormorants,” naturalist David Hawke, an OrilliaMatters columnist, predicted. “It’s akin to shooting ring-billed gulls.”

That Progressive Conservative government’s “fall harvest for double-creasted cormorants introduced to protect local ecosystems” was quietly introduced in late July just prior to a holiday weekend.

Hawke said that while some find cormorants to be a nuisance since they kill vegetation where they nest, they are a native species and actually feed on an invasive fish species: round gobies.

“They might as well as be shooting loons and great blue herons,” he said. “This whole thing is baffling and it’s mind boggling that this is being done as a hunt. Because to me a hunt is for food. You can’t eat them because of their hundred percent fish diet. They’re not edible.”

By Andrew Philips – Orillia Matters
Read More Here: www.orilliamatters.com/local-news/provinces-baffling-cormorant-cull-is-going-to-be-a-disaster-2711905