Thompson Very High Frequency Omni-directional Range (VOR) Replacement - IAA Comment

 Killing animals does not solve the problem. Montreal’s feeding ban bylaw and Rouge National Park's bear proof bins are far more effective because they remove attractants. Please change your pest control policy to instead remove attractants, and fix holes, along with a humane contraception program. I noticed the bait boxes were placed near broken and open garbage bins, and unfixed holes. Please invest in non lethal solutions like bear proof bins (which also keep out rats) and public education. Tuffbox is a garbage and recycling bin that keeps out mice and rats. 

 Airports and the aviation industry kill a lot of animals.  USDA and Transport Canada created these policies, not humane organizations.  Airports kill a lot of wildlife, including cormorants.  

 Please bear in mind that the laws only mandate wildlife management.  No law exists to mandate killing.  All documents on wildlife management are simply policies and guidelines.  
 

They recommend fumigating, gassing, drugging, and poisoning animals.  They even recommend catching and killing stray dogs!  
Also, 20+ year old policies and old safety manuals promote poisoning birds and mammals (Avitrol and rodenticides are highly recommended), shooting all sorts of animals, destroying coyote dens, drowning beavers and muskrats, and all sorts of destruction.  No recent updates have been created.  I would love your organizations to create a brand new manual that only suggests humane methods, and change the laws to mandate all wildlife management must be humane.  This is a very little known animal rights issue.  

 I am quite concerned with the requirements for a “wildlife control agent” at an airport to hold a firearm permit.  The laws thankfully do not mandate the killing of animals, but it does not forbid it either.  I sure hope the firearms are to scare animals off, rather than kill them.

 Please amend the laws to mandate that wildlife management is only done in a humane, cruelty free no kill manner, by an animal protection organization rather than a trapper, hunter or exterminator.  

 Wildlife airplane strikes kill animals and humans alike.  This is why it is essential that every airport has a wildlife program.  Airports can use any legal method of animal management. Transport Canada mandates that every airport has a “wildlife management” plan that mandates firearms training.  While this could be for non lethal humane hazing with noise, most airports trap and shoot animals. Montreal Trudeau International Airport hires Falcon Environmental Services to fly captive bred birds of prey around, along with birds.  Wildlife injured by the hawks are killed using shears, rather than receiving veterinary care.  Falconers cruelly joke about how aggressive their birds are in an article here.

 The company “controls” coyote populations by snaring and trapping at many airports, including Montreal Trudeau International Airport, Billy Bishop Airport in Toronto, and many others.  They “control” foxes, groundhogs, and skunks.  They also hire the province to shoot deer and turkeys, whose bodies are fed to poor people.  They also spray insecticides all over to reduce kestrel food.  They also “control” geese, beavers, starlings, cliff swallows, and ring billed gulls.  They do use some humane options like giant shiny balls in ponds, pyrotechnics and other noise, bird spikes, signs asking to not feed birds, and mowing the lawn short.

 This same contractor “ethically” traps at Billy Bishop Airport in Toronto and the Pearson International Airport in Mississauga, whatever that means.

 All staff are licensed hunters and trappers.

 Many of these animals are endangered and have no where else to go.

 There are definitely non lethal alternatives.  Organizations like societies, non lethal companies, and wildlife rehabilitation centres can provide a non lethal option to protect both wildlife and humans.   

 Quebec is home to many animals, including coyotes.  But Montreal Trudeau Airport and Billy Bishop Airport hires trappers to “relocate” coyotes.  Many coyotes (who are leghold trapped) end up in dog hunting training cages.  

 Trapping coyotes usually involves legholds and snares, and every coyote trapped or killed leaves room for more to move in.  We would like the airport to stop the hunting/trapping and instead develop a Living With Coyotes program with the animal welfare organization Coyote Watch Canada.

 Please only use non lethal ways to manage wildlife.  

 There are humane, non lethal ways to deal with beavers.  Here's a great resource