Hunting season for double-crested cormorants

Devastated by toxic chemicals only decades ago, Ontario’s population of double-crested cormorants has seen substantial recovery in recent years. The Government of Ontario has put forth a proposal to establish a hunting season for double-crested cormorants (ERO 013-4124) which would let 50 cormorants be killed per hunter every day, with those cormorants killed being permitted to spoil. Hunting would be allowed during breeding season and at breeding colonies, with no requirements for long-term monitoring and assessment of ecological impact. This proposal has the potential not only to greatly damage cormorant recovery but to significantly influence the breeding populations of many other species including herons, egrets, alewives and gobies.

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Special thanks to TFN member Zunaid Khan for letting us use his photograph for this post.

The Toronto Field Naturalists wish to acknowledge this land through which we walk. For thousands of years it has been the traditional land of the Wendat, the Seneca, and most recently, the Mississauga of the Credit River. Today it is still the home to many Indigenous peoples from across Turtle Island and we are grateful to have the opportunity to be on this land.