Anti-duck hunting groups send message to Premier with grim display
Dozens of dead birds have been left on display outside Jacinta Allan’s office as protesters push for an end to duck hunting in Victoria. Warning: Graphic images.
Victoria
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Dozens of dead birds illegally shot and left on wetlands during the opening of the duck shooting season have been left outside Jacinta Allan’s office in protest by anti-duck shooting groups.
The Coalition Against Duck Shooting (CADS) and Wildlife Victoria laid outabout 40 dead ducks outside the Premier’s Melbourne office on Tuesday morning.
Although all Victorian licensed duck shooters must pass the Waterfowl Identification Test, illegally shot threatened blue-winged shovelers were still recovered by rescuers in the first five days of the 2024 duck shooting season, CADS claimed.
In January, the Victorian government announced that blue-winged shoveler and hardhead could not be hunted in the 2024 season due to their threatened status.
Speaking at the demonstration, CADS campaign director Laurie Levy called for the Victorian government to ban duck shooting.
“Duck shooting is a terribly violent activity that brutalises Australia’s beautiful native water birds,” he said.
“The government can very easily ban duck shooting today in Victoria, as it has in Western Australia, New South Wales and Queensland.
“Once duck shooting comes to an end, Victoria could have a thriving First Nations nature-based wetlands tourism industry,” he said.
Levy added that through the 38 years of campaigning, public opinion had changed on duck shooting, and it was a very subdued start to the 2024 season.
“This has been the quietest opening of the Victorian duck shooting season that we have ever experienced,” he said.
“All of the media coverage over the past 38 years has changed public opinion.
“The number of duck shooters has fallen from 100,000 down to no more than 5000.
“With the Labor government closing 34 of the shooters’ favourite wetlands due to large numbers of threatened species, we expected large concentrations of shooters on the remaining wetlands around Kerang and Donald.
“Instead, our rescuers struggled to find many shooters anywhere, but the few shooters we did see still shot threatened and protected species,” Levy alleged.
CADS claimed there were 130 regulating officers patrolling the wetlands, with a large number brought in from interstate.
According to Levy, issuing rescuers with banning notices to prevent the recovery of illegally shot threatened and protected species and wounded birds, seemed to be the officers’ main focus.
It comes just months after the state government announced its response to the parliamentary inquiry into Victoria’s recreational native bird hunting arrangements, confirming that recreational duck and quail hunting would continue with some changes.
The views of more than 10,000 Victorians and organisations were heard during the inquiry, the most a parliamentary inquiry has ever received.
Minister for Outdoor Recreation Steve Dimopoulos said in January that duck hunting is a legitimate activity that supports regional communities and economies.
“Our position has not changed and we’re supporting recreational duck and quail hunting to continue in a safe, sustainable and responsible way with minimal harm to our environment,” he said.
From 2025, changes to recreational duck and quail hunting will be brought in, including:
• Improving hunters’ knowledge and skill by making education and training for hunters mandatory
• Stricter compliance levels, including further penalties for hunters breaking the rules
• Banning the use of lead shot for quail hunting
• Implementing the Waterfowl Wounding Reduction Action Plan, to reduce the risk of wounding
• Greater recognition of Traditional Owners’ knowledge of hunting and land management
• The 2024 duck season commenced on April 10 and will end on June 5 2024
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