This article first appeared on the ABC's Drum website: http://www.abc.net.au/unleashed/3912794.html
A large man and a big gun versus a small bird that stands less than 40cm high: if ever there was an uneven competition, then this is surely it.
Hunting lobbyists would have us believe that duck shooting is a noble pursuit, based on skill, cunning and the concept of a "fair chase". The vast majority of Victorians, however, might suggest that there is nothing fair or noble about using a shotgun to pepper a cloud of pellets towards the body of a defenceless native bird that, for the other nine months of the year, is protected by law.
It is the use of a shotgun that represents perhaps the cruellest aspect of duck shooting. Rather than allowing a clean kill with a single bullet, shotguns release a spray of up to 200 pellets that spread out the further they travel. This season, many hundreds of thousands of unfortunate ducks will cop a pellet or two in the wing or beak that maims rather than kills. Repeated studies have estimated that for every 10 ducks killed, at least six will be wounded and not retrieved, often suffering a long, lingering death.
Despite there being only 22,000 registered shooters in Victoria, the number of bird casualties each year is far from insignificant. During the 2011 season, according to the Victorian Government's own estimate, over 600,000 ducks were killed. This does not include those birds that were wounded and later died, nor any protected species that were illegally shot. If we are to assume that another wet year will yield a similar harvest, and factor in the above wounding rate, we can expect more than a million ducks to be killed or wounded in the upcoming months.
Another, perhaps lesser known, victim of the hunting season is quail. This year Victorian hunters will be allowed to shoot 20 native Stubble Quail per day, a limit that - again according to the State Government's estimate - last year accounted for a harvest of 680,000 birds. In the case of the tiny, unobtrusive and often difficult-to-identify Stubble Quail, it is again extremely likely that many other protected species will be illegally killed. The Little Button Quail, for example, has more or less the same habitat and behaviour and is similar in appearance to the Stubble Quail. Experienced bird-watchers often have trouble distinguishing between the two species, and we can only presume that quail hunters face the same difficulties.
While shooters deny rarely - if ever - getting it wrong, the issue of misidentification is incontrovertible. Rare and protected species are killed each season and last year the list of protected species found shot and abandoned included swans, grebes, coots, magpies, spoonbills, stilts, cormorants, parrots, owls, birds of prey, and the threatened Blue-billed Duck and Freckled Duck. There are only two plausible explanations to account for the killing of these non-game species: either hunters cannot be trusted to accurately tell the difference between a duck and the very distinctive (not to mention nocturnal) Barn Owl or they have deliberately shot non-target species in a fit of excitement and bloodlust.
The Indonesian abattoir scandal last year rightly pricked our collective conscience. Footage of animals being subjected to painful and prolonged deaths led to much discussion about the treatment of animals immediately prior to and during their slaughter. Now imagine our public game reserves as a kind of abattoir - one in which untrained workers, some as young as 12 years old, are allowed to dispatch of animals. Picture an abattoir where a large proportion of animals do not die instantly but are shot and suffer in terrible pain for some minutes before being retrieved by a dog and eventually - mercifully - having their necks wrung. Or one in which 50 per cent of animals escape wounded. Such a facility would be shut down instantly.
But despite the unquestionable cruelty of this sport, many shooters claim duck shooting is justified because it harks back to an "age-old" tradition. According to a report in last week's Sunday Age, the "boys and old men, fathers, sons and brothers" present at opening weekend were just "connecting with the environment". Could I suggest to these hunters that there are kinder and much more rewarding ways to get back to nature? How about observing the pink-eared duck's unique method of feeding in which two birds spin around a central point nose to tail in such way that small organisms are sucked up into a gyrating column? What about watching an adult chestnut teal noisily feign injury when a predator is nearby so that their young can swim off safely? There are more than 200 species of birds in Australia listed as vulnerable, threatened or endangered - why not work to try preserving our native birdlife rather than using it to play out some sort of macho, shoot-em-up fantasy?
Polls have consistently shown that Victorians overwhelmingly support the abolition of duck shooting - most can see that there is nothing noble or sporting about killing and maiming native animals. Year after year, however, the Government consults only with shooting organisations about the future of recreational hunting. Surely it is time that the public, and conservation and animal welfare groups were given a similar opportunity to voice their opposition to this cruel, anachronistic pursuit.
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