Re: Hunting in Parks at odds with Conservation by Dr. David Suzuki and Faisal Moola:

Suzuki’s headline says, “hunting in parks at odds with conservation.” I’m writing this letter to say this is highly unfair and untrue.
He says, “Our current hunting practices reduce population numbers.” Not So!
In North America now, there are more deer than ever, more geese, more wild turkeys, more elk in the western states and provinces, and Bighorn sheep are coming back.
He states that hunting affects the size of the animals. Also untrue. Every year deer are making it into the record books.
Actually deer are smaller in parks such as Rondeau and Pinery than they are in the surrounding areas where deer are hunted. Deer in these parks are undernourished and they have completely eaten the under story of the woods, making it almost impossible for new growth to happen.
This is an upset of the ecosystem. So in most cases the size of the deer goes down due to lack hunting, not the opposite.
Suzuki says unsustainable rates of hunting and fishing can devastate wildlife populations and he mentions the cod and Pacific salmon stocks.
He is right, but market hunting for game has not been allowed for well over a century and the cod stocks were decimated by Russian and European bottom draggers, not by anglers.
Recreational hunting and angling have never even come close to endangering a species in North America. In fact, most hunted and angled species are thriving.
He mentions bighorn sheep being affected by hunters. A Bighorn ram is only legal game when its horns are over ¾ curl. Such an animal is usually well past his breeding prime, his teeth are worn down and he only has a year or two left to live anyway, so taking him out of the population does no harm.
Actually the population of wild sheep was not drastically reduced by recreational hunting but by the introduction of domestic sheep, which carried diseases like brucellosis to the wild sheep and reduced their winter feed supply.
This happened in the late 1800s.
Most hunters are happy killing the first legal deer that gives them an opportunity to do so. We are not all trophy hunters, and actually, by the time a buck reaches true trophy proportions he is almost completely nocturnal and almost un-killable. He has definitely left his genes in the population. (By the way David, bucks have antlers, not horns.)
Most of the hunting in Kawartha Signature Site Park, which Suzuki discusses, is for deer one or two weeks a year by people who have had camps in those woods for more than a hundred years.
In the early autumn the odd grouse hunter may wander through but I’ve never heard of anyone going up there to hunt groundhogs, crows and grackles or turtles.
In all my fifty years as a hunter, I have never even heard of anybody going out to hunt turtles.
Suzuki paints a picture of hundreds of people killing thousands of turtles. It ain’t so.
In fact, Ducks Unlimited (an organization mostly made up of hunters and financed mostly by hunters) has saved and restored almost one million acres of marshland in Ontario alone. Since turtles live in marshes that has saved thousands of times more turtles than hunting has ever destroyed.
Suzuki states that hunting in that park will open up opportunities to hunt previously protected species such as porcupines, foxes, weasels, raccoons and skunks.
One only has to look at the Ontario Hunting regulations to see this is not true either. Ontario has seasons for foxes, raccoons, and weasels. Skunks may be hunted all year long. So these species were not previously protected.
Suzuki says he is concerned about hunting increasing the human footprint.
Hunting has been a tradition in that area for over a hundred years and has not left a noticeable footprint. What will leave an enormous human footprint is making the place into a park – period.
A couple of weeks ago, Dr. Gino Ferri wrote an article about a pristine lake he used to visit by canoe. The government opened up a road and a parking lot for all Ontarians to enjoy.
The people came in droves and ruined it. Do we really want that in Kawartha? The trouble with parks is that we love them to death.
In the National Park on the Bruce, trails are made with bark chips. Imagine that, the bark chip highway, where a person from Mississauga can get her nature fix without removing her high heels.
Suzuki talks about footprints in parks. Let us be thankful that only one provincial park has a golf course. National parks have too many to mention.
Yes, golf courses, with their irrigation systems, herbicides, pesticides, fertilizer, tree removal and everything else that goes along with maintaining a monoculture. All so a person who discovers himself bored stiff with nature can amuse himself for $175. Talk about a footprint. Godzilla couldn’t do any worse.
Of course criticizing the Holy Golf would be akin to criticizing motherhood or the Holy Grail.
Suzuki is right about hunting being at odds with the values of most Ontarians. That is because most Ontarians are city dwellers and have little or no knowledge of the outdoors. Most of their values have been shaped by Walt Disney movies like Bambi or by watching Marlin Perkins (the silver haired faker on Mutual of Omaha.)
I asked a group of young people the other day to name three species of woodpeckers indigenous to Ontario. Only one teen could even name one. The answer I got mostly was Woody Woodpecker.
The fact is, most people can’t tell a rufous-sided towhee from a side of fries.

Last fall I joined three professors from Cornell University on an antelope hunt in Montana. One has his PhD in wildlife population dynamics and one is a doctor of botany. They don’t seem to have a problem with hunting; in fact they live for it.
What steams Suzuki, he says, is that proposed plans are at odds with the principle of sustainable wildlife.
What really steams me and the hunting community in general is a well-known scientist playing on people’s emotions and using innuendo to give the impression that hunters and hunting will have a terrible and lasting effect on that park and its wildlife when he knows better.

Don Scott
Meaford, Ontario

Ok Don Scott I don't know who you are... and I didn't read all of what you said... Because after the 1st few lines I started laughing at you! So what if hes wrong and there is "more deer than ever!" So what lets give everyone the right to hunt more than the law says? I don't think that makes any scene... actually it's stupid! I'm an 18 year old and even I know how dumb you made your self look in the 1st few sentences........

Mikki,
Man, you really are making yourself sound ignorant. You admitted to not reading all of Mr. Scott's comments and then you made on yourself. That is the true definition of ignorance. You need to educate your self about wildlife. Have you ever been in the woods for a long period of time and actually spent time studying wildlife? Your youth, of only being 18 and obviously uneducated about the outdoors shines through in only the few sentences you wrote. Are you really serious when you asked about "what is wrong with more deer then ever?" Seriously, there is many things wrong with too many deer. Take Presquile Park for example......I'll let you do the research as it looks like you need to brush up on those skills. However, to sum up the problem.....too many deer eat all the vegetation which effects the entire ecosystem. Things need to be balanced and we as human beings are part of the balancing act, we are the top of the food chain and we are one with nature...we are not seperate from it, that is a fact.
And no Mikki, no one has said "hunt more then the law says". I urge you to go and read the hunting regulations book from your local MNR or any store that sells hunting and fishing licenses. You will discover (b/c you obviously don't know) that hunting is heavily regulated and there is only a set amount of specieces allowed to be taken every year in a set time frame. These numbers are based on scientific data done by more educated people then you or I.

Please read the entire text before you make an ignorant comment, and please get out of the city and enjoy nature.

Well stated Mr. Scott. You are obviously a well educated man who knows a lot about the out doors and conservation. Mikki, I hope you actually spend the time reading MY WHOLE COMMENT and do yourself some justice and read Mr. Scotts entire piece. You really must read an entire text before you pass judgement and call someone a name. You will be quite embarrased about you comments once research a little about hunting. Mr. Scott is right, numbers of game animals are at an all time high. Did you know that in the early 1900's there were only about 500 000 deer in North America, yes this was due to market hunting. Since regulated hunting has come into effect over 50 years ago deer have been able to managed through scientific research. Hunting money (licences, taxes and hunting groups such have Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters have contributed significantly to conservation). Now we have over 30 000 000 deer in North America. Too many deer are a problem...vehicle collisons, lime disease, crop damage, habitat destruction etc. etc. Deer populations were so high in Presquile Park that the parks natural vegetation was wiped out and many animals down the food suffered. Deer need to be managed. Game meat is not only tasty but it is very healthy and the animals that it came from have lived a happy and free life up until their time of death. A hunter has treated the animal with repect and has killed it in a quick and humane fashion. This animal has not suffered in a cruel confined abusive place such as a factory farm, where most supermarket meat comes from. We also need to instill a fear into predatory animals. If not they become to complacent around humans and family pets get killed, little children and even adults. Check out what happened in Florida when the gator hunt was cancelled. Yes there has been human fatalities from people just walking along board walks. Louisianna has never cancelled their gator hunt and they have never had a human fatality to a gator attack!! Up here in Ontario, black bears have become a nuisance in rural areas since the Spring Bear Hunt was cancelled (by very uneducated special interest groups with big dollars spreading lies and a politician greedy for votes). Even in London, Ontario had a black bear enter a school yard last week. Thankfully the police took care of the problem before a child was injured or worse, killed. Now, what life is more important, a child or a bear. We are the top of the food chain, have morals and a conscience so yes a human life is more valuable. I live up north with my property backing onto Kawartha Highlands Provincial Park. My class of grade 6 students new more about hunting then Mr. Suzuki. Mr. Suzuki was off the mark on so many of his comments that it made me sick. If hunting was cancelled in the Park, many people who live near it would suffer the consequences. I know that the city people don't care about that and they get their nature fix from Disney and T.V. episodes but there are real problems with cancelling a hunt. Keeping predators fearful of humans keeps them at bay.

Animals left unchecked can become a nusiance. For example, the Bancroft Elk heard has become a major problem as farmers are suffering extensive crop damage. Mr. Suzuki, parks should not be safe havens for wild life! Mr. Suziki has suggested that "We have become a part of the evolutionary process.." No, we have always been a part...we are not seperated from nature...we are apart of it...don't ever think that we aren't. The proposal to the Park is to keep hunting as it has always been there. There is a great population of moose, bear and deer that have been hunted for generations and the population numbers stable and growing. My main purpose for hunting is yes..for putting meat in the freezer..my second is for conservation. This is like every hunter I know. "Wildlife species in Canada are already under enormous pressure, due mainly to habitat loss and fragmentation. " Yes Mr. Suziki they are so you should be focussing your efforts there, just like hunting and fishing orgaizations (O.F.A.H. National Wild Turkey Federation, Ducks Unlimited, Delta Waterfowl and many more). An increase or decrease in animal harvesting is based on scientific research. Animal populations must be kept in balance. People think long and hard with evidence in hand to control the number of animals to be harvested each year. Mr. Suzuki, maybe it is time for you to retire as your views are out of date and incorrect in terms of hunting. Mr. Scott, keep up the great educational work and Mikki, read read and read!!

"Enjoying wildlife" to the hunter means going there and with a shotgun and putting a bullet into the peaceful creatures that are living there.

It's like a penis replacement for their small ones as it makes them feel more manly when robbing the lives of gentle herbivores.

Rui,
If you think that hunters just like putting a bullet into an animal then you haven’t been around the hunting community at all. Instead of making unfounded comments, why don’t you join an organization that helps protect and sustain wildlife populations? Many have been mention above. Find out how today’s scientifically regulated hunters have helped bring back deer, turkey, elk, bear and waterfowl populations from nearly extinction. Find out how hunters have saved 100’s of thousands of acres of wetlands, how hunting reduces car insurance and helps keeps the price of food low. I don’t know where you are from but there are all kinds of seminars that can help educate you. Bass Pro Shops has them, here in Ontario, the Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters has seminars. The NWTF (National Wild Turkey Federation, Ducks Unlimited, and Delta Waterfowl) are all chalked full of info of how hunters have and can still help the environment & wildlife. See Rui, hunters put their money where their mouth is. Millions upon millions of dollars from hunters are used for the science of and protection of wildlife. How much have you contributed?

You mention how you think wildlife are “peaceful creatures”. Rui, have you ever seen a boar eat a fawn or calf being born? Have you ever seen a pack of wolves chase down and kill an elk? Bears don’t always kill their victims first, they often eat them alive. Have you seen a fisher torture a porcupine to death? There is nothing peaceful about nature Rui. Try saying that nature is peaceful to Gerald Marois who was viciously attacked by a huge boar black bear. He feared for his life as he watched the bear tear off his calf and chew on it in front of him. Hunting predatory animals helps keep them fearful of humans and greatly reduces human-wildlife conflicts.

Did you know that nothing in the wild dies of old age? That’s right, when an animal gets old, it becomes easy prey. Deer lose their teeth and will starve to death. Mange will make a K9 scratch constantly until they bleed and all their hair falls out. Those poor animals freeze to death in the winter. Peaceful? No? Sad? Yes. Humane? No! A hunter can help reduce the spread of mange, kill an unsuspecting deer quickly and humanely before it suffers. Yes I would rather be unsuspecting of my death then suffer through starvation, mange, be eaten alive, chased by wolves etc. Don’t give me the argument that mange etc is a part of nature b/c I know that, but we humans are also apart of nature as we sit atop of the food chain and have a responsibility to sustain healthy wildlife populations.

One of the best parts to hunting is watching the wildlife all around you, becoming part of the outdoors, talking to the animals in their own language. And of course putting game on the dinner table is just delicious! Hunting is part of our heritage, our ancestors survived based on hunting. It is time to drop the Walt Disney mentalities and enjoy real nature by actually getting out in the woods, wetlands and on the water.