Native birds are again falling from the skies above South Australia’s wetlands after suffering non-fatal injuries from shotgun pellets. The state’s annual open season on ducks and other waterfowl began on Saturday and continues until Sunday 25 June.
Meanwhile, the Victorian government last month announced it would have a shorter duck hunting season this year, starting on Wednesday April 26 and ending on Tuesday May 30. (The only states and territories to still allow the controversial recreational activity are SA, Victoria, Tasmania and the NT. Western Australia, NSW and Queensland banned it in 1990, 1995 and 2005 respectively.)
Concerns shared by the RSPCA and the Australian Veterinary Association about the high wounding rates that inevitably occur when flying birds are hit with pellets sprayed from a shotgun, have once again been proven well founded.
During this weekend’s opening of SA’s duck hunting season, witnesses have captured footage showing shooters:
- Leaving wounded ducks in the water, while continuing to shoot or while retrieving decoys
- Letting their dogs play with wounded ducks before moving to retrieve them
- Holding wounded ducks up for their dogs to snap at/become excited by
- Twirling ducks around, with the birds flapping helplessly for some time before dying
- Twirling ducks around briefly then dropping them, still alive, on to a pile of shot ducks and resuming shooting
- Handing a wounded duck to a child to kill, and the child then twirling it around ineffectively
- Shooting a bird of a prohibited species (ie: not allowed to be targeted/killed), then stomping it into the mud
- Leaving empty beer bottles, some broken, littering the edge of Lake George
The rising opposition to opening wetland habitats to shooters has triggered state government inquiries in both SA and Victoria, to review duck hunting laws.
In SA, the State Government last month announced that the Parliamentary Select Committee conducting the inquiry would comprise two government MPS, two Opposition MPs and one Cross Bench MP. Neither the selected politicians nor the Inquiry’s terms of reference have been publicly released yet.
RSPCA South Australia’s objection to duck hunting is the inevitable and often extreme suffering it causes.
The Australian Veterinary Association has also come out strongly against the inhumanity of recreational duck hunting, citing not just the high wounding rates but the disruption caused to nesting species due to the noise and movement of shooters through their habitats. In a statement released last month, the AVA said –
“Wing, bill and leg fractures are common in surviving birds. If left, wounded birds can suffer from the disabling effects of the injury, including pain and infection, or thirst and starvation if unable to drink or eat. All of these increase the likelihood of being taken by a predator.”1
“When you have two peak animal welfare bodies – the RSPCA and the Australian Veterinary Association – both opposed to an activity that causes needless suffering to so many native animals and birds, something has to change,” RSPCA SA’s Animal Welfare Advocate Dr Rebekah Eyers said.
“Our state’s native birds are protected species – it’s truly shocking that we remove that protection for four months a year to let shooters into their habitats.
“Seeing a wounded duck flapping helplessly in the water or on the ground, or being held up while still alive as a gun dog snaps at it, is something you never forget.”
