Quebec crow hunt draws controversy as Montreal SPCA denounces 'wildlife killing contests'

CBC News

· Posted: Mar 21, 2025 5:21 PM EDT | Last Updated: 10 minutes ago

The Montreal SPCA says a weekend crow-hunting tourney adjacent Quebec City has nary spot successful the province.

The enactment took to Facebook this week, alerting radical astir an lawsuit held by the hunting and sportfishing relation of Pont-Rouge, located southwest of Quebec City.

Hunters person each time connected Saturday, March 22 to termination arsenic galore crows arsenic they tin earlier a weigh-in to state a winner.

In an emailed statement, the Montreal SPCA said it is opposed to recreational hunting activities that are aimed astatine amusement and not sustenance.

"Wildlife sidesplitting contests that promote the sidesplitting of chaotic animals and connection prizes for show should beryllium banned successful Quebec," said Sophie Gaillard, manager of carnal advocacy, ineligible and authorities affairs, successful an emailed statement.

The enactment highlighted a crow's quality and encouraged radical to dependable their concerns to the Quebec Environment Ministry to inquire them to prohibition specified hunting contests.

Marc Renaud, president of the Quebec Federation of Hunters and Fishermen, said he's disappointed by the SPCA's reaction.

"They're determination for carnal cruelty but they're not determination to negociate hunting," said Renaud.

He says section farmers are "happy to spot us" since crows are pests for immoderate radical and get into farmers' crops and fields.

"It's a wholly ineligible and regulated enactment … it's not carnal cruelty," said Renaud.

He says determination volition beryllium immoderate hunters who determine to devour the crows and others mightiness sphere the carnal done taxidermy.

While helium agrees the birds are precise intelligent, helium says that's not a valid statement to forestall hunting.

Should smarts beryllium a origin successful hunting ethics?

Louis Lefebvre, a biologist astatine McGill University, says the concern raises "a societal question."

"Do we privation to support dolphins due to the fact that they're much intelligent than tuna?" helium said. "Do we devour chickens due to the fact that they're little intelligent than crows? Is that a benignant of criterion we privation to person arsenic a society?"

He says crows are surely "at the precise top" successful presumption of intelligence.

"They find clever solutions to problems we springiness them. They usage tools. They marque tools," said Lefebvre.

"In presumption of however galore neurons they person successful the equivalent of the cortex of their brains, they travel 2nd lone to parrots."

But helium says crows are not a threatened taxon and the planned hunt is not that antithetic from others.

"There's a athletics hunt for each sorts of animals. There's a athletics hunt for deer. There's a athletics hunt for geese, there's a athletics hunt for ducks," said Lefebvre.

He said it's a question of being for oregon against hunting.