Animal rights activists
convince GRCA
to call off Luther Marsh cull
Brian Whitwham, The Hamilton Spectator
The Grand River Conservation Authority has called off a plan to kill a controversial bird that has settled in Luther Marsh.
After hearing from animal rights activists at a meeting in Cambridge yesterday, the authority's board decided to hold off on shooting double-crested cormorants in the 5,200-hectare marsh.
Instead, it asked staff to report back in the fall on whether the fish-eating birds really need to be killed to protect great blue herons.
Board member Jane Mitchell said she came into the meeting convinced that was the case but the clashing views of opposing biologists left her in doubt.
"I'm in a big dilemma," she said. "I don't believe I can vote for this at this time."
Luther Marsh is west of Grand Valley, on both sides of the border between Wellington and Dufferin counties. The authority has spent tens of thousands of dollars over the last 40 years to help the marsh build a large heron population.
The authority announced earlier this month that the herons were in trouble because of a growing cormorant population in the park.
Pending board approval, the authority said, it would hunt adult cormorants to control their numbers and prevent them from crowding the herons out.
Martin Neumann, supervisor of terrestrial resources, said the authority believes the birds are taking over herons' nests.
He said staff counted four nesting pairs of cormorants in March 2004, 25 last year and there could be 100 this year.
"We don't know what will happen if the cormorants move into the herons' nests," he said. "It's a competitive world out there and our concern is that the herons will lose the competition."
The authority was concerned that if it waited another year, the damage would already be done, Neumann said.
But the authority's plan drew the ire of several animal rights activists, who said it's wrong to kill members of one species in the interests of another.
Rob Laidlaw, executive director of Zoocheck Canada Inc., said public misconceptions about the cormorant have led to the bird being demonized.
Laidlaw said people mistakenly believe cormorants ruin fish populations, damage habitats and disrupt bird species such as herons or loons.
"I think there's a false assumption generally out there in Ontario and Canada that double-crested cormorants are an aberration of nature and they need to be controlled," Laidlaw told the board. "I've seen nothing that shows that great blue herons are negatively affected by cormorants. In fact, they seem to coexist quite peacefully."
He said the cormorant population isn't out of control. The species was nearly wiped out in the 1950s and 1960s by toxic contamination and it's rebuilding now, he said.
Liz White, from the Animal Alliance of Canada, said the authority wouldn't be able to separate the two bird species if it wanted to.
"They're all close together," she said after the meeting. "It's not possible to shoot into the nest and have the cormorants fly off and not have the herons fly off."
Board member Joe Martens said he has opposed the plan to cull the cormorant population from the beginning.
"We like, as people, to have control of certain issues," he said in the meeting. "But I think nature has done a good job until now and I think we should leave it alone."
Laidlaw said yesterday's decision was good for the birds in Luther Marsh and it set an example for those across Ontario who believe in trying to manage a habitat.
He and White said they will be back when the cormorant issue is reviewed this fall.