A Submission by Niagara Action For Animals
(Niagara At Large is posting the following submission for your information and opportunity to comment.
The planned deer hunt in Niagara’s Short Hills Provincial Park was approved by the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and is restricted to Native peoples only using hunting bows. The park will be closed to the rest of the public while the hunt is in progress on the dates of January 5,6, 12 and 13.)
January 2013, St. Catharines, Ontario – Niagara Action for Animals (NAfA) is strongly opposed to the deer hunt scheduled to take place in the Short Hills Provincial Park on January 5-6th and 12-13th. NAfA does not condone the hunting of animals for any reason; killing animals for sport, tradition, or food is unnecessary, inhumane and unjustified.
Courtesy of Dan Wiison, this photo was taken of a deer in another Ontario park near Georgian Bay.
While we take little quarry with people who have absolutely no choice but to hunt to survive, in contemporary society, “meat”, “fur”, and “leather” are not necessary for survival. We strongly believe that morality, not tradition, should be the standard for our actions as moral human beings.
Given the sensitivity and complexity of the issue at hand, we would like to be clear is stating that our objection with the deer hunt is not about human versus animal rights, legal versus illegal activities, or respecting versus rejecting treaties. For us, as animal activists, the issue is about the rights of the animals who reside in the Short Hills to live peacefully and free from exploitative human interference.
With regards to the plight of the animals who are to be hunted and killed, research suggests that many animals suffer prolonged, painful deaths after being injured by hunters. It is estimated that 50 percent of deer who are shot with crossbows are wounded but not killed (Ditchkoff et al., 1998). In one study, 11 of 22 deer shot with traditional archery equipment were wounded but not killed or retrieved, being left to die a slow and painful death (Renny, 2000).
Furthermore, the Short Hills is a protected provincial park in which humans have peacefully coexisted with nature and wildlife for many years. As highlighted by the circulating petition (available through a link posted below), residents are strongly opposed to this hunt. NAfA encourages the Ministry of Natural Resources to cease the hunt immediately. Should the hunt continue as scheduled, we will join concerned citizens in a peaceful demonstration to raise awareness about the inherent cruelty involved in hunting animals.
Niagara Action for Animals (NAfA) is an all-volunteer registered charity whose mission is to advocate for all animals through education and community outreach. NAfA envisions a compassionate society that respects the innate worth of all beings, both human and non-human.
You can click on the following online petition that NAFA is encouraging opponents of the deer hunt to call up on your screen and sign as soon as possible – http://www.change.org/petitions/ministry-of-natural-resources-stop-the-illegal-aboriginal-hunt-of-deer-in-shorthills-park# .
Learn more about Niagara Action for Animals by visiting its website at http://www.niagaraactionforanimals.org/ .
(Niagara At Large invites you to weigh in below on this issue. Remember that NAL only posts comments by individuals who also share their first and last name with them.)
Niagara At Large 
I think this is unbelieveable that they have allowed this to happen in a provincial park/animal sanctuary. At first, I was only thinking about the safety of families who enjoy hikes and cycling in the park as well as the residents who’s backyards back onto the park. Yes, cycling still happens in the winter in the park. But I kept getting a nagging feeling about it all. I also feel for the wildlife who have been able to roam around unharmed for years now and have come to trust people. There are all kinds of different ways to look at this. It all just seems horrible.
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Unbelievable and horrific! I know of famillies living adjacent to the park who watch every day at a certain time for a small family of deer who regulary walk by their property. This placid, beautiful family will, not may, but definately will be murdered during this barbaric hunting event because nobody has a way of telling them that they will walk calmly into the line of fire. Some people who claim to be animal activists have voiced a rather slanderous or libilous opinion suggesting that people against this hunt are bigots who have no respect for aboriginal rights to the extreme of claiming rascism. This is the epitome of hypocracy! Half of my family and friends are aboriginal and not all are animal activists yet they actuallty question why anyone would want to participate in something that is nothing more than a “canned hunt”. Murdering animals where the animals have no previous experience with violence inflicted by humans is quite cowardly no matter what culture you hold claim to. Is this one of our government’s ministry’s way to avoid the flack they would take if they decided to “cull” the deer in a park? Before people took over so much of the wild parts of our planet wildlife did their own culling by not overbreeding after a season where food shortages had been bleak. Hasn’t anyone read “Farley Mowat’s” book: Never Cry Wolf? If you really are an animal activist you don’t care if the hunter is your best friend, a martian or your spiritual leader, you oppose this type of cruelty plain and simple. You then go out in a blizzard or rain storm or blazing hot day and you peacefully protest what you believe is wrong no matter who is participating in what you believe is wrong. If any honest animal activists from my area is going to attend these protests I think we should car pool. Though that may make me sound like a bigot against people who drive solo, tough, I care about everything that we can do to help our planet and every critter on it.
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The longer you think about this story the stranger it seems. How exactly do you convince First Nations people to come to your park to hunt dear with bows and arrows.
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As if Caledonia wasn’t enough, again the provincial LIeberal government of Dolton McWimpy proves its agreement with apartheid by inviting only those of certain ethnicity to kill Bambi and his friends in a tax-funded park.
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Go out today and rent some bangers that the soft fruit growers use. See what happens then.
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Sorry but whether you are vegetarian or not, it is important that aboriginal people assert their treaty rights. For hundreds on years, before English and French people were even here, indigenous peoples hunted for survival on what was their land. Today’s natives are hunting the deer for food, not sport. In a rather broad generalizations, I find it saddly ironic that descendants of the colonial settlers who hunted the native Maritime Beothuk people to extinction for sport are against hunting deer. I respect vegetarians’ right to be vegetarian and feel they contribute immensely to our understanding of meatless and organic alternatives, but in many people’s opinion so long as animals are killed as humanely as possible (not like in factory farms !) carnivores have a right to eat meat.
Also, there is no need to fear for safety. Regional staff and police are keeping the hunters 200 meters from Shorthills boundaries and the hunters are using arrows not bullets.
Dave, Caledonia is a justified action. Land that belongs to aboriginal peoples was being sold off by non-aboriginals. Many natives have tried to resolve land claims disputes “the white way” by going to court, but these court actions take on average 20 years to resolve and during that time the municipality or province often sell off the land to non-native developers. Even the supposedly neutral white judge in the Caledonia case was an investor in the condo land development scheme along the disputed territory, so where’s the justice ?
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The issue I have with the deer hunt in the Short Hills has nothing to do with recognizing or rejecting Treaty Rights; it has to do with preserving and respecting wild life who have tolerated and accepted human presence in their “backyard”. The deer are accustomed to seeing hikers and dont fear people as would deer in more remote areas. As such, the Short Hills deer have a diminished instinct for fight or flight and are thus, an easier “target” for Hunters. The Park is relatively small so any hunt, is actually a “canned” hunt. The Short Hills Park is the pride of Niagara and its deer cherished by Park frequenters.
The planning and implementation of this Hunt has been played close to the vest by the Ministry of Natural Resources making an already sensitive issue, a racially-charged one.
Better understanding of the Hunter’s Treaty Rights by Niagara residents and an appreciation by the Hunters for the affection that is held for these deer would go a long way in resolving this conflict.
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This is utterly ridiculous. This is coming from an aboriginal person who was a vegetarian and supported animal rights for 10 years.
This is about honouring the treaties and those who lived off of the land before factory farming and the industrial revolution even existed. This is about honouring a culture and heritage and ownership of land that is rightfully theirs.
This does not have to do with personal ethics based largely on white privileges. There are reserves without access to drinking water and with inflated costs of food including produce due to capitalism. There is a huge portion of the Native community in Niagara where I am from living in poverty. This about their roots and their rights as human beings.
If you understand anything about Native cultures these animals are honoured and have been since the dawn of time for their sacrifices. They are treated with the utmost care and respect until their deaths. These people literally have lived off the land before any of you existed.
Imagine if your rights to be a vegetarian in our society or to protest were taken away from you from our government and then tell me how you feel because this is hypocrisy at its finest.
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I gather you no longer support ‘animal rights’ given that you are willing to sacrifice animals lives. The 6 Nations reserve (where the hunters are coming from to hunt in Shorthills) has access to drinking water and food aplently…..please lets not confuse 6 Nations with Neskantaga. Sadly there are many peoples in the Niagara area living in poverty, and of many cultures and backgrounds. Killing animals for sport, tradition, or culture is unnecessary, inhumane and unjustified. To support or passively tolerate the unnecessary slaughter and domination of innocent animals in the name of “tradition” or “rights” is dangerous and analogous to justifying other forms of cruelty that were historically accepted on the basis of our “way of life” or “cultural traditions”.
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Respectfully Eva, even if we look at this issue from only a financial perspective, it doesnt make sense to fill The Four Points Hotel with MNR staff for 2-3 nites plus meals and gas costs to facilliate a hunt for men driving Cadillac Escalades when as you state there are the people on the reserves that are living without access to drinking water and other Native Niagarans living in poverty.
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