Shots will ring out on Middle Island as early as Friday as Parks Canada officials begin culling double-crested cormorants for a second year, according to an animal rights advocate.
Parks officials were unavailable for comment Monday because of the Easter holiday, but bird advocates who've fought the action say they have been told the park plans to cull six to eight days over four weeks.
About 211 cormorants were killed in last year’s cull on the Lake Erie island, said Julie Woodyer, a representative with Cormorant Defenders International, a group that opposes culling.
“We met with (Parks Canada) recently to organize being out there to observe (the culling) and they said, ‘oh by the way we are going to kill 3,000 to 4,000 (birds) over eight days.’” Woodyer said.
“I think that’s why they only got 211,” she said. “We remain unsure about how they can kill thousands without significant injures to other birds. It’s also a big disturbance. They said they aren’t going to deviate from humane procedures.”
Efforts by animal rights group Zoocheck Canada Inc. to get a court injunction to stop bird culling at Middle Island, which is part of Point Pelee National Park, failed a year ago.
Last spring, Parks Canada said it planned to reduce the colony from 4,026 nests to between 438 and 876 over five years.
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