Duck season cancelled in Victoria in 2008
Our Rescue Team will instead go to Tasmania on 8 March 2008
Latest Morgan Research Poll - Majority of Victorians want duck shooting banned.
This poll was made possible due to a grant from Voiceless.
Latest TV Media Story
ABC TV news transcript, Sunday 28 October 2007
Latest Media Release
TAXPAYERS’ MONEY BLOWN AWAY AS THE BRACKS GOVERNMENT HANDS OVER $200,000 TO DUCK SHOOTERS IN AN ATTEMPT TO TEACH THEM HOW TO SHOOT ACCURATELY
released on Sunday 13 May 2007
- see media release
Latest Articles, TV and Radio Coverage
TV COVERAGE - view more
Channel 7 (National Australia)
Weekend Sunrise - 09/03/2008 - 07:53 AM
Andrew OKeefe and Samantha Armytage
Station Ph: 02 8777 7777
- see coverage
RADIO COVERAGE - view more
ABC 702 Sydney (Sydney)
13:00 News (Weekend) - 08/03/2008 - 01:02 PM
Newsreader
Program Ph: 02 8333 2138
- see coverage
ARTICLES - view more
'Duck hunts start without a quack'
March 9, 2008, Sunday Tasmanian
- see article(with images)
'Duck figures down claim'
by Michael Lowe
March 4, 2008, Sunday Examiner
- see article
'Duck-hunt friction rises with shooters'
March 4, 2008, Hobart Mercury
- see article
'An Olympic standard accuracy test must be introduced before hunters are allowed on to the wetlands'
January 15, 2008, Hobart Mercury
- see article(with images)
Shooters migrating south for duck hunt
January 11, 2008, The Age
By Mathew Murphy
- see article (in text)
Dear Duck Rescuers,
There will be no Victorian duck season in 2007.
We ended 2006 with two exciting victories. Three Greens voted into Victoria¹s Upper House and a moratorium called for the 2007 season.
South Australia has also declared a moratorium. Tasmania is yet to make a decision; however, if a season does go ahead we will send a rescue team down to help the Tasmanian rescuers.
Thank you for the hard work and commitment you have put into helping native waterbirds during this long, hard-fought year. We go into 2007 invigorated; yet knowing it will still be a tough battle to win the issue in Victoria.
In the lead-up to this year¹s state election, shooting organisations placed full-page advertisements in newspapers naming politicians in the Bracks Government and the Liberal and National Parties who supported hunting in this state, confirming what we already knew.
Even when the government announced the moratorium, half of its media release was used to praise the state¹s duck shooters and to brag about how many millions of dollars Bracks has allocated to facilitate hunting in Victoria.
This very special relationship between the Bracks Government and the shooters is now out in the open, with even the government Media Unit being used to provide publicity for shooters. This is a desperate attempt by the Bracks Government to salvage a dying activity.
The moratorium will allow us time to consolidate our position in 2007. And with the Greens now in parliament, we are within reach of seeing the recreational shooting of native waterbirds banned, forever.
But in getting there, we still need your help!
Laurie Levy
Campaign Director.
NEWS
Three states in Australia have now banned the recreational shooting of native waterbirds, - Western Australia (1990), New South Wales (1995) and now Queensland (10 August 2005)
American ballistics expert warns shooters about wounding waterbirds
In 2004 a leading ballistics expert in the US, Tom Roster, told American duck shooters that unless they could lower the wounding rates in waterbirds, then duck shooting would go the same way in America as it has in Australia (where two states, Western Australia in 1990 and New South Wales in 1995), have banned the recreational shooting of native waterbirds. In Victoria the numbers of duck shooters have decreased from about 95,000 in 1986 to 19,400 licensed today, however, only about 4,000 of those are still active.- Read More
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LATEST FEATURE EDITORIAL
Saturday 19 March 2005
The Age newspaper's editorial again calls on the Bracks Labor Government to ban the recreational shooting of native waterbirds in Victoria. see article
Why Duck Shooting Should Be Banned
The eight so-called game species that are allowed to be shot during the duck season are protected native waterbirds for nine months of year. These birds are an integral part of Australia's ecosystem. There is absolutely no scientific or environmental reason for allowing these beautiful waterbirds to be shot.
Cruelty
Shooters using shotguns inflict horrific injuries to these gentle and defenceless waterbirds. When a shooter fires, pellets spread and birds are often shot through the wings, eyes, feet or bodies.
We have mobile clinics on the wetlands staffed by experienced veterinarians and veterinary nurses to treat the wounded victims. The birds are then rehabilitated for release by qualified wildlife carers and veterinarians at Melbourne Zoo and Healesville Sanctuary.
Protected species
Protected species are illegally shot by shooters each year. These include Swans (which mate for life), Avocets, Herons and many other species including Australia's rare and threatened Freckled Ducks. These birds are unique to Australia. They are also at serious risk from duck shooters. In 1993, for example, Department of Conservation officers counted 300 Freckled Ducks on Lake Buloke, near the central Victorian town of Donald, yet shooters illegally shot 272. 1994 saw another slaughter of Freckled Ducks on Buloke.
Victorian duck shooters can now be fined up to $24,000 for illegally shooting protected species.
Lead shot has finally been banned
Up until the year 2001, duck shooters fired about 350 tonnes of lead into Victoria's wetlands each year. Duck shooters had to be dragged screaming and shouting into the 21st century before lead shot was finally banned.
Waterbirds, when feeding, ingest spent lead shot and die from poisoning. A single lead shot ingested by waterbird can cause chronic lead poisoning, which results in a slow, agonising death over a three-week period.
Unfortunately, despite the ban on lead, waterbirds will continue to die from the accumulated lead shot for many decades to come.
The fight for waterbirds will continue
The Victorian Labor Government actively promotes the recreational shooting of Australia's defenceless native waterbirds. They are environmental vandals.
Duck shooting is not a sport. It is a cowardly, violent, anti-social act. Sport is an even contest between humans, such as football, hockey, tennis, athletics, etc. Waterbirds cannot defend themselves, let alone fight back against shooters armed with powerful weapons, dogs, whistles and decoys. Duck shooting is a one-sided cowardly activity.
Each year, the state Labor Government services a small minority of duck shooters by declaring a duck season. The Brumby Government continues to declare a season despite the prolonged drought. Premier John Brumby even goes so far as to artificially fill certain wetlands to attract birds for shooters.
Photographers: Kerry Tait and Noah Hannibal