[All] people hunting mourning doves

[Lori Strothard]

Did anyone else find this article in The Record on Wed. Aug. 28/13 disturbing?  It is entitled "Doves get another reasont o mourn" which is a very sick title. 
The article says "Mourning dove (hunting) season will go from Sept. 5 to Nov. 13 - 70 days, and hunters will be allowed to kill 15 doves a day each!!       http://www.therecord.com/news-story/4051895-doves-get-another-reason-to-mourn-in-september/  Why would people want to hunt little gentle mourning doves? Do people eat them or is it just "for sport" ? This is one bird I have always loved, so of course this was disturbing to me- I had no idea people hunted them en masse. It seems to be saying that this is done in the USA and now Canada is 'following suit'. How nice. Cdn. Wildlife  Service Ontario says they "don't expect there to be any impact because there is such a large population"!!   Well there used to be lots of large populations of many birds which have plummeted recently. As we have all heard, many small songbirds are suffering deep declines.  We used to see and hear nighthawks dive-bombing (with that amazing sound their wings make) over our back yard for many years, but we have not seen a single one for about 3 years now. Bats have all but disappeared around here. Just because there is lots of some fragile creature at one time does not mean it will always be that way. A Mr. Scott Petrie of the Ont. Fed. of Anglers and Hunters says "they have been pushing for a mourning dove hunt for 10 years!!  They are definitely a game bird."  Sometimes its embarassing to be part of the human race. 

Lori S. 
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