O.F.A.H. blames McGuinty government for botched cormorant cull in Brighton

O.F.A.H. blames McGuinty government for botched cormorant cull in Brighton

The Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters is furious that the Ontario Liberal government botched the cull of about 5,000 cormorants at Presqu’ile Provincial Park, in Brighton.

Today, the O.F.A.H. learned that government officials have been ordered to abort the cormorant cull, an urgently needed wildlife management tool that could have helped save what’s left of a fragile ecosystem now being destroyed by too many cormorants.

A year ago, the cull of 6,030 cormorants was efficiently carried out before the first week of June, but recently wildlife managers scrambled to cull only about two thousand cormorants in the same time frame. The O.F.A.H. is blaming the government for not acting quickly enough, for not assigning enough staff to carry out the cull, and for failing to meet a deadline that was easily achieved last year.

“Maybe the government never planned to achieve their target anyway and simply decided to ride the fence on this very serious environmental crisis,” said O.F.A.H. Executive Director, Mike Reader.

Reader said that sensible solutions to cormorant management have come under fire from media-savvy animal rights extremists who are more interested in protests than actually doing anything positive to protect the birds, trees, flora and fauna they claim to represent.

Meanwhile, anyone who really cares about water quality, habitat protection, property values and local fishing opportunities has the O.F.A.H. to thank for its leadership in demanding effective cormorant management. Earlier this year, an independent, scientific research committee confirmed for the government what the O.F.A.H. has said all along: cormorant culls are necessary to save our environment!

“If the government won’t step up to the plate and do what’s right, the O.F.A.H. hopes private property owners will. We have the government on record saying that shooting these birds on private property may be permitted. Where it’s safe and appropriate, the O.F.A.H. is encouraging private property owners to take action and help put the pressure on for local and provincial cormorant management,” added Reader.

Throughout Ontario, including Algonquin Park, Manitoulin Island, Lake Ontario, Lake Erie and Lake Simcoe, shoreline habitat, bird nesting areas and our fisheries are being destroyed by a population explosion of over half-a-million cormorants.

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