Parks Canada Begins Cormorant Cull

Amanda Reid, Windsor Star

April 23, 2009

The culling of thousands of nesting cormorants on Middle Island has begun in a bid to save the ecosystem of Canada's southernmost landmass, Parks Canada said Friday.

The cull, implemented by Parks Canada and Point Pelee National Park staff, is part of the five-year $380,000 Middle Island Conservation Plan, which hopes to bring the island back into ecological balance and maintain its biodiversity. Point Pelee superintendent Marian Stranak saidthe guano and nesting habits of the double-crested cormorants are killing the vegetation and the habitat of hundreds of plants and animals.

“By reducing the nesting pairs as well as replacing the birds’ nests with scarecrows, Parks Canada hopes to protect the nine species at risk on the Island,” said Stranak.

She said the park is required by the federal Species at Risk Acto to take action.

But Cormorant Defenders International, an organization which has been monitoring and documenting the impact of the Middle Island culls since they began in 2008, said that one-third of last year’s cull was killed on Tuesday alone. “When you turn over a stunningly beautiful bird floating dead in the water because it was shot by Parks Canada, something is not right,” said CDI spokesperson Liz White.

“The birds have done nothing but desperately try to raise and protect their young and for that Parks Canada puts a bullet in its neck.”

Stranak says that the goal of the parks is not to eliminate the double-breasted cormorant, only to reduce its numbers to protect the balance of the ecosystem.

But White saidthe park’s inhumane lethal management of cormorants on the Great Lakes does not allow for the natural events to take their courses.

“The park needs to provide accurate information for the public to see what is actually happening on Middle Island.” said White.