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Duck shooting
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This year’s duck shooting begins Saturday 17 March, where Victoria’s native waterbirds are terrorised and killed in the name of ‘sport’.
It's estimated that hundreds of thousands of ducks are shot from the skies, with 1 in 4 birds being left to die a prolonged and cruel death from their injuries.
This violent sport is banned in Western Australia, Queensland, New South Wales and has never been allowed in the ACT, yet our Government is allowing a full season to go ahead once again in 2012.
With 87% of Victorian’s supporting a ban on duck shooting, why are our voices being ignored by the Government?
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The issue
Duck shooting is a senseless sport
where hunters use scatter guns to target native waterbirds. These guns
spray pellets over a wide area and as admitted by shooting groups, one in
four ducks that are shot do not die instantly. Tragically they attempt to fly away, suffering a lingering and painful death, either from their wounds of starvation. This suffering is made worse when poorly skilled shooters taking up to ten shots to end the suffering of wounded birds.
For nine months of the year, Victorian native water-birds fall under state-wide environmental protection. Sadly, from March to June, this law does not apply and native ducks are permitted to be shot from the skies in the name of sport. During this time, only
15 government appointed Wildlife Officers are responsible for monitoring the 20,000 wetlands around Victoria to enforce the Wildlife Act.
Each year, Victoria’s duck shooting season opens in mid March for 12 weeks. During that time, Victoria’s
22,000 registered shooters are allowed to 'bag' 10 birds each day.
Unfortunately the Government has announced that a full 2012 duck shooting season will be going ahead. Year after year, shooting organisations and clubs are given the opportunity to plead their case in lengthy consultation periods with the government, and the Department of Sustainability and Environment produces the statistics showing how the bird numbers have increased. However no such consultation is afforded to animal welfare organisations or the majority of the community which oppose this barbaric sport. Once again, the decision to allow a duck shooting season is incredibly out of step with community views, and merely serves to appease a very small but vocal minority who care very little about the welfare of our native wildlife. Sadly, further news that duck shooting has moved from being handled by the Department of Sustainability and Environment to the Department of Primary Industries, demonstrates that the Victorian Coalition Government has not taken decisive action to protect our waterbirds.
Instead, the creation of a new body, Game Victoria, will operate within the Department of Primary Industries to “give Victoria's game hunting community a stronger voice and better enable the promotion and growth of the game sector”. The RSPCA had hoped that a new departmental approach to this issue would enable better outcomes for our wildlife under a new Minister, but sadly the opposite seems to be true. We will be continuing our campaign to put an end to this sport.
The impact of duck shooting is nothing short of devastating. During
the 2011 season, our animal welfare colleagues at the Coalition Against Duck Shooting recovered 630 birds
that were shot and left to die in the water. Of these, 75 were protected or non-game species. The Coalition's dedicated rescuers are only a
small group and they were unable to patrol all of Victoria’s wetlands. The impact on our native bird populations is devastating.
Duck shooting is banned in Western Australia, New South Wales and
Queensland, and has never been allowed in the Australian Capital
Territory. Why is our government not showing leadership on this issue and protecting wildlife from legalised cruelty.
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Wood Duck image courtesy of Ashley Herrod, Birds Australia
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Environment
Duck
shooting interferes with the delicate ecosystems of Victoria's wetlands.
Sadly, bird populations have not had an opportunity to replenish
following many years of drought. Additionally, until lead shots were
banned in the 1990's, duck shooting was responsible for leaching 350
tonnes of poisonous lead into Victorian waterways. These lead deposits
will remain for 100 years, poisoning wildlife and damaging flora.
Duck shooters have also been found to pollute waterways, leaving behind spent cartridge shells and rubbish.
Population numbers
A 2008 aerial study of Victoria’s wetlands by University of NSW
professor Richard Kingsford found that seasonal droughts had triggered a
devastating 60% drop in duck populations between 2006 and 2007. Sadly,
duck numbers had decreased by 80% in the past 25 years.
After years of drought, increased rainfall
substantially improved the habitats of our native water birds. This has
lead to a significant increase in breeding and populations of native
birds across Victoria. These
young birds are crucial to their species' survival but tragically, they
are easy prey for hunters. Those not shot are often orphaned or simply
suffer from the shock of exposure to gun fire.
Endangered species
Although Waterfowl
Identification Tests have been introduced in Victoria, these tests don’t
go far enough in protecting endangered species. Hunters are only required to sit this
once, the pass rate is not 100% and evidence shows, despite this 'test', many
hunters fire at birds before they have sufficiently identified the
species. Hunters fire into flocks and the spray of pellets can easily
wound birds flying with the target. Many non-game species such
as swans, ibis and spoonbills are often fatally injured.
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Chestnut Teal Duck image courtesy of Ashley Herrod, Birds Australia
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The argument 'we invest in the environment'
Shooting organisations argue that they undertake environmental work to protect the wetlands. The lead shot problem in Victoria’s waterways and the decimation of protected species negates any benefit provided by shooting organisations' environmental work. Duck shooting has a devastating impact on water bird populations.
A Field and Game Australia telephone survey of hunters after the 2006 Victorian duck season indicated that approximately 350,000 game species were shot. Yet a waterfowl count conducted before that season by the Department of Sustainability and Environment recorded only 182,487 game species of native ducks. Tragically that year and in many others, duck shooters hunted dangerously high numbers our native wildlife.
The argument 'ducks are pests'
Hunters suggest duck shooting is essential for ‘pest mitigation’. Native ducks are not pests or feral animals, they are integral elements of Victoria’s natural wetland ecosystems.
If some duck species have become pests for Victorian farmers, this does not justify open season hunting which allows hundreds of thousands of ducks to be slaughtered.
The argument 'we support regional tourism'
Some hunters argue
that duck shooting brings tourism and commerce into small regional
towns. An increase in visitation of shooters may indeed benefit the
local economy but this would be a fraction of what would be earned if
those same areas leveraged their local wetlands for bird watching.
Bird watching is big business - the international bird watching tourism industry is worth more than $23 billion every year.
Many regional
Victorian communities have leverage their pristine environments and
abundant wildlife to attract support via eco-tourism. Phillip Island
attracts millions of tourists to its penguin parade. Warrnambool has
developed a lucrative whale watching industry and bush walking tourism
is a growing attraction in Victoria's high country. Eco-tourism could
bring year-round international tourism to rural towns which would
provide much more benefit that the 12 week shooting season.
The argument 'it's tradition'
Hunters argue that duck shooting is apart of Australian heritage. Although
hunting ducks in early settlement may have been acceptable at one
stage, there is no place for duck shooting in modern Australia.
Hunting ducks for food is unjustifiable. The
ducks we eat are usually White Pekin ducks that are farmed and bred
specifically for our tables. Like meat chickens, duck farmers
selectively breed birds for consumption. |
| Pacific Black Duck image courtesy of Ashley Herrod, Birds Australia |
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Future
There is no future for duck shooting in
Victoria. Duck shooting has never been permitted in the Australian
Capital Territory and three additional Australian states have now
outlawed this cruel sport:
- Western Australia in 1990.
- New South Wales in 1995
- Queensland in 2006.
The simple fact is, the majority of Victorians want the legalised shooting of native water birds to cease.
Independent research conducted by Roy Morgan (2007) found that 87% of
Victorians want duck shooting banned. In 2010,
more than 31,000 people signed a joint petition from the RSPCA and Coalition Against Duck Shooting to call for this cruel sport to be banned.
With such wide
community support to ban duck shooting, why has the Victorian government
so far ignored its constituents and turned its back on our native
wildlife? The Field and Game Association and it's shooting members are a very vocal group that in the past, has wielded
considerable political influence. The numbers of registered shooters
are in steep decline however. There were approximately 95,000 duck
hunters in Victoria in 1986. Today these numbers have dwindled to
between 19,000 and 22,000, with many hunters registering their children
to increase registrations (children as young as 12 are permitted to shoot ducks).
The killing of native Australian wildlife for
the
enjoyment of a small portion of society must not
continue. The RSPCA believes that shooters should divert their passion
for duck hunting to clay target shooting. The
Victorian Government is investing $13 million in a
Multi-discipline Shooting Centre and there are 30 Clay Target
Association-affiliated gun clubs in Victoria eager to welcome members.
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| Wood Duck family image courtesy of Ashley Herrod, Birds Australia |
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There are 4 important steps you can take today to help protect our native waterbirds and to tell the government you will not be ignored on this important issue.
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