2016-03-18
Media Alert
Who: Sue Pennicuik MLC, Victorian Greens Animal Welfare spokesperson
When: Saturday 19 March, sunrise
Where: North West Victoria
Victorian Greens Animal Welfare spokesperson Sue Pennicuik MLC will again attend the opening of the duck shooting season this weekend to protest over the annual slaughter of our native water birds.
“The Labor Party's decision to allow a duck shooting season this year, despite the science clearly showing that the season should not go ahead, is a disgrace and is completely unjustifiable,” Ms Pennicuik said.
“In order to appease the shooting lobby, Labor has allowed a full season with a token reduction in the number of ducks allowed to be shot each day.
“This is basically business as usual, as monitoring of bag limits is woeful. Every year, shooters leave injured and unwanted birds on the water and discard smaller ones if they shoot a bigger one and so avoid the so-called bag limits.
“We will continue to see protected species such as freckled ducks, swans, coots, grebes, kites and other birds killed on our wetlands.
“The 2015 waterbird all birds abundance index is below the long-term average and is the second lowest ever recorded according to ‘Considerations for the 2016 duck season’ released by the Game Management Authority.*
“Predicted rainfall is not expected to improve conditions for waterbirds in the short term. Comparable conditions in 2008–09 saw those duck seasons cancelled.
“The government should protect and preserve our native birds and animals, yet successive governments have put the interests of a small but noisy cohort of duck shooters ahead of the welfare of our native species.
“This duck shooting season should be cancelled and this should herald the end of this brutal and barbaric so-called sport forever, as the majority of Victorians want to see,” Ms Pennicuik said.
For further comment: Sue Pennicuik: 03 9530 8399
* The Game Management Authority is part of the DEWLP and was set up by the previous Coalition government, supported by Labor, to essentially promote hunting.