Freckled Ducks, Hunting and the Bigger Picture

By Birding-Aus, on March 27th, 2013

Dear Sonja et al,

I think we as birders need to be very careful how we approach this particular event. The broad statement that “I don’t think shooters would consider it a waste or mindless” is unhelpful and attempts to tar all shooters with the same brush. There are many responsible shooters out there who are very aware of the rules applied to regulate their chosen pastime, and who abide by those rules. There are plenty of birders who disregard or blatantly flout the rules associated with our pastime, approaching nests too closely (see the recent thread concerning the nesting Red Goshawks at Mataranka), using excessive playback when photographing birds etc, but there is no suggestion that birding should be banned. Likewise there are hunters who will disregard or blatantly flout the rules pertaining to hunting. As birders and people generally concerned for the environment, we must be sure to direct our efforts at ensuring the rules that exist are enforced and that those who flout them are puni shed accordingly, rather than simply decrying the existence of duck shooters as a fraternity, because one or even a minority of duckshooters broke the rules.

This raises the follow-on question of whether the rules and regulations which apply to hunting are adequate, an issue for which there is no easy answer. Several species of duck are not endangered and could quite easily sustain a level of harvesting that would not affect their population. Just as there is a program for management of macropod populations in some rural areas, a program whereby people are permitted to sustainably hunt certain duck species is unlikely to have any significant effects on the populations of those species. If such a program is effectively managed and policed I can only see benefits. What if the money raised from such a program was put towards the conservation of sensitive wetlands, as occurs in the United States where the hunting lobby is also a very effective conservation group? I have often wondered why organisations which ultimately have similar goals are not able to unite in some way to further both their interests.

If the issue is that shooting ducks is inhumane due to the probability that birds will be left wounded, then we should make this clear also. Is there possibly a balance that can be reached here? What if those rules and regulations that try to mitigate these problems can be better enforced, perhaps with the help of conservation volunteers? Would that satisfy organisations like the Coalition Against Duck Shooting? Could the organisations on both sides of this argument meet at some level to come up with an accord where they agree to disagree on some issues, but also commit to working together to solve other problems and also advance the causes of both organisations on issues such as wetland conservation, shooter/birder education etc.

So, before the hate mail starts rolling in, I want to make it clear that my intention here is not to defend duck shooting. The incident that occurred in NW Vic was abhorrent and we as bird lovers should voice our disgust and ensure that the perpetrator(s) feel the full weight of the law. When looking at the bigger picture though, we need to be articulate and direct about what our issues are. If we have a particular problem with duck hunting we need to make that clear, and we also need to ensure we can justify why it is a problem and how this problem can be solved. Broad brush statements such as “duck shooters are murdering innocent wildlife and should be stopped” are not helpful, and simply force the opposing groups further apart. In reality, the abolition of duck hunting in Victoria (and perhaps looking further ahead, NSW) doesn’t seem to be an option, so let’s think outside the box and be creative in coming up with ways we can approach this problem and get a better outcome for all involved.

Regards and good birding (as he boards up his windows and doors, and turns off his phone and email!!)

Nick Leseberg

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Carl Clifford

March 28, 2013 at 3:52 pm

Yep, and Game Council inspectors and other authorities will not be able to enter any such properties, unless they gain prior permission from the landholder.

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March 28, 2013 at 3:17 pm

Dave,

There are plans to allow duck shooting in NSW, on private wetlands.

"storm"

March 28, 2013 at 3:46 pm

Lots of unregulated and uncontrolled killing.

Won’t it be great?

Dave Torr

March 28, 2013 at 3:18 pm

What a surprise! And being private who will know what goes on!

March 28, 2013 at 12:37 pm

True – all depends on local politics. Although of course in NSW seems you can shoot almost anything now so long as it is in a National Park!

John Leonard

March 28, 2013 at 12:27 pm

This disparity doesn’t explain how duck shooting got banned in various states other than Victoria.

peter

March 28, 2013 at 11:54 am

I don’t know if the ratio of shooter to birders is relevant. There are plenty of people who are against duck hunting who aren’t birders. The relevant ratio is the number of people who politicians think will vote for them if they support duck hunting vs the number they think won’t.

Peter Shute

Sonja Ross

March 28, 2013 at 11:10 am

Hi Dave,

Thanks for that. It isn’t good news!

Sonja

March 28, 2013 at 11:03 am

It was announced at the time of the BirdLife merger that there would be around 10,000 members. Of course lots of birders don’t belong or belong to smaller groups which mean that we do not present a united front. I believe there are at least 15,000 shooters in Vic alone. In fact the national body has 140,000 members ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sporting_Shooters_Association_of_Australia) so they probably outnumber birders (at least those in clubs) by 10:1!

March 28, 2013 at 10:26 am

Good morning all,

Do we have any idea of how many of each group i.e. hunters and birders, there are?

March 28, 2013 at 10:02 am

“Sporting” shooting isn’t about convenience. The deaths and injuries that occur there are not tangential to another, wholly unrelated, activity, as those that occur from cars are.

The deliberate killing of threatened species is an outrage and to see it as other than this is to diminish the value of legal framework that we have in place to protect other species from ourselves.

storm

Eric Jeffrey

March 28, 2013 at 9:07 am

I agree in many respects with Nick, but want to address the issue of conservation in the U.S. Although duck hunting groups have done a lot for conservation, they also tend to skew conservation efforts towards waterfowl birds that may be shot, providing less benefit than might be ideal for other birds.

Eric Jeffrey Falls Church VA USA

Sent from my iPhone

"Chris Brandis"

March 28, 2013 at 9:18 am

What about all the animals and birds that get killed and maimed on the road, do you want to ban motor vehicles, trains etc., no, we balance the loss with our convenience.

Starting a war never solved a thing and you will never get rid of human ignorance.

Cheers Chris

Denise Goodfellow

March 28, 2013 at 8:56 am

I may have mentioned before the almost total ignorance of Australian wildlife that exists where I live (Palmerston, just south of Darwin). The Australian woman who bought the other side of our duplex ripped out all the native plants saying she ‘knew nothing’ about them. And that ignorance applies to most birds as well.

Perhaps, for a start, every child should learn about Australian wildlife as should newcomers to this country; the Australian citizenship practice test contains only one related question and that’s to do with our national flower.

Incidentally I note from the latest Fish & Wildlife report that hunting and fishing for recreation is increasing in the US.

Denise Lawungkurr Goodfellow 1/7 Songlark Street, Bakewell, NT 0832 043 8650 835

March 28, 2013 at 8:09 am

Or, you could just take the view that duck hunting should be banned in Victoria as it is in other states.

Kim Sterelny

March 27, 2013 at 10:30 pm

Hi Andrew

Fair enough. I agree if there is a large number of animals that continue to suffer long after actually being fired upon, that is certainly important to the overall picture, and I accept that I should have said that. That said, given that factory farming is legal, it is hard to understand why cockfighting is illegal. I would guess that the extent to which a factory farmed bird suffers is surely far worse; a life that is never anything but miserable.

Your overall point still stands, of course Kim ________________________________________ Sent: Wednesday, 27 March 2013 9:30 PM

Hi folks

I agree that Nick’s post was well written but I don’t think he mentions the animal welfare aspect and this omission must come into play when discussing if the post is fully balanced. How many of the ducks we twitch on our wetlands are suffering with bullets and pellets embedded in their flesh? I remember reading some distressing statistics on this point many years ago. It’s a point worth remembering and speaking about publicly. If cruelty to animals is okay in the sport of duck shooting, why do we prosecute people who organise cockfights? A vanquished rooster usually ends up in the pot, too …

Andrew

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janine echidna

March 27, 2013 at 8:59 pm

Hi all

I’m afraid I don’t see any need for balance here. An outrage has occurred. Threatened species have been killed in large numbers for no good reason. Others have been horribly injured.

This is not the time for considered, balanced discussion. This is the time for anger and grief.

Janine JANINE DUFFY Director Marketing & Research ECHIDNA WALKABOUT PO Box 370 Port Melbourne 3207 AUSTRALIA Email: janine@echidnawalkabout.com.au Web: http://www.echidnawalkabout.com.au Tel: +61 (0)3 9646 8249 Fax: +61 (0)3 9681 9177 ABN: 72 716 985 505 Sent via Blackberry

"Greg Little"

March 27, 2013 at 8:43 pm

Nick

Do the hunters see birders as equals? Phphph, I’ll bet that many of the hunters, especially the older fellows, don’t understand what the issues are and don’t care.

Greg Little

Andrew Thelander

March 27, 2013 at 8:30 pm

March 27, 2013 at 8:04 pm

Likewise, I agree. I have always been impressed by just how much wetland Ducks Unlimited preserve in the USA. I personally would utterly hate to shoot a duck, and cannot understand how it could give someone pleasure. But we need where at all possible to make common cause with those who also want to preserve bush, wetlands, estuaries and the like from destructive development. There is not enough of us. But none of this can work unless hoons and idiots who want to shoot at everything are controlled, and the Victoria news is very depressing in this respect

Kim ________________________________________ Sent: Wednesday, 27 March 2013 8:18 PM Cc: Nick Leseberg; Birding-aus

I agree, well considered.

Cheers

David

On Wed, Mar 27, 2013 at 8:08 PM, David Richardson http://birding-aus.org =============================== ===============================

Chris Sanderson

March 27, 2013 at 7:47 pm

Thanks Nick for providing some balance to the argument! I certainly know some conservation-minded shooters who are no doubt cringing at this news. In fact I think probably many shooters are reading these news articles and thinking “you buggers are ruining it for the rest of us”. At least I hope they are, because peer pressure is likely to be far more effective than pester-power in achieving improvements in hunting behaviour. I’m not certain the bad behaviour of birders (which undoubtedly happens and is likely more common than we’d like to think) is comparable to the senseless slaughter of hundreds of protected birds though. Perhaps egg collecting or poaching would be a better counter-example, as no doubt there have been people interested in birds and bird-watching who have strayed down that path in the past.

I do know that polarising this issue puts us on the losing side, as there are many, many more hunters than birders, and while this is a political issue that means we can’t win. Perhaps considering Nick’s idea of talking to the hunting lobby as equals with a vested interest in conservation has some merit?

Cheers, Chris

On Wed, Mar 27, 2013 at 8:08 PM, David Richardson