Due to large numbers of threatened Freckled and Blue-billed Ducks, CADS pushed for this wetland to be closed to shooting, but the request was unsuccessful. On the opening morning, a barrage of shooting started 20 minutes early, yet the many regulating officers and police present were powerless to stop it. Game Management Authority compliance officers stayed on shore due to OH&S regulations. Rescuers exposed the massacre and recovered 183 illegally shot threatened species and 296 protected birds. Altogether that year, 1,500 dead birds were delivered to politicians and around 10,000 spent shotgun cartridges were left outside Agriculture Minister Jaala Pulford’s office in Ballarat.