Cormorants Slaughtered

Several weeks ago, researchers in New York State made a gruesome discovery. On Little Gallou, a small island off the coast of Lake Ontario, they found nearly a thousand double-crested cormorants shot dead. The mass killing was one of the worst of any federally protected creature in recent U.S. history. Cormorants are relative newcomers to the Great Lakes, emigrating from the Canadian prairie lakes before World War I. With government protection, the population has now soared to over 8000 active nests on Little Gallou alone. Many area anglers who compete with the birds for fish say that’s too many. Brenda Tremblay (TRAHM-blay) of member station W-X-X-I prepared our report.