Double-crested Cormorants

Once near extinction in Ontario due to DDT use, the return of the Double-crested cormorant to Ontario is a significant conservation success story.  However, in 2020, the Progressive Conservative government introduced the large-scale hunt of Double-crested cormorants. Over a 3 month hunting season, the legal take for Ontario’s estimated 197,000 small game hunting license holders totals more than 316 million Cormorants. With only an estimated 143,000 Cormorants in the province, the government has sanctioned what can only be seen as the eradication of this native species. 
I visited the urban spaces left for these birds, and witnessed a species surviving on the edge.