Boycott Point Pelee National Park - Protect Birds

The Harper government and Parks Canada have decided to shoot thousands of nesting Double-crested Cormorants at Middle Island, Point Pelee National Park for the next five years beginning in the spring 2008. They plan to reduce the vibrant and historical colonial waterbird colony by 90%, destabilizing the ecological integrity of both the island and the Lake Erie aquatic ecosystem.

Unfounded Claims by Parks Canada
Claim: Cormorants are destroying ‘rare’ vegetation on Middle Island.

Truth: Middle Island is part of a larger biological zone known as the Carolinian Life Zone. Its northern edge reaches into southern Ontario and stretched from Sarnia to Toronto. Vegetation found on Middle Island is not considered ‘rare’ or ‘at risk’ throughout its biological range, found primary south of the Canadian border. Its ‘rare’ designation in Canada is based on a political border, and not on biological criteria.

Claim: Parks Canada states cormorants are ‘destroying’ Monarch Butterfly habitat

Truth: Parks Canada has failed to produce any scientific evidence that demonstrates that the cormorant colony threatens the monarch butterfly or any other wildlife that shares Middle Island with nesting cormorants.

Claim: Double-crested Cormorants are ‘hyper-abundant’.

Truth: The large dense colonies of cormorants during nesting periods serve as a natural barrier against predators that feast of cormorant eggs and chicks. These predators include other colonial birds such as gulls and herons. Populations are self-regulating once colonies become too dense. This basic ecological principle is true for all species. The term ‘hyper abundance’ has no basis in scientific study, and is a fabricated term to justify the removal of unwanted wildlife.

Claim: Parks Canada does not want to eliminate Double-crested Cormorants from Point Pelee National Park

Truth: Parks Canada will reduce the cormorant population by 90%, from approximately 8000 nesting birds to only 800 nesting birds - a mere shadow of the original colony. This artificially contrived number is unrepresentative of a natural cormorant colony and could jeopardize the population altogether.

Good Reasons To Boycott Point Pelee National Park
Historically, boycotts have been instrumental in establishing positive social and environmental change, and are an effective yet quiet method of sending a strong message.

People who have expressed their opposition but whose voices park management has ignored can act independently of government agencies through a boycott of the park;

A boycott of Point Pelee National Park would spread tourist dollars throughout the region. Point Pelee has always acted as a source sink for tourists, but there are hundreds of alternative beach and birding sites within minutes of the park gates, all as good as Point Pelee itself. Spreading the wealth could be a positive outcome of a boycott.

Historical Boycotts:

The United Farm Workers Union led a successful boycott against California grapes and wines throughout the 1980s protesting the use of pesticides on grapes and its effects on worker’s health.
A global boycott of canned tuna forced tuna producing countries to abandon the deadly use of driftnets that killed dolphins and other marine animals as by-catch.
A consumer rejection of genetically modified foods has created a prosperous organic food industry that continues to expand today.

Click here for more information on Double-crested Cormorants.