2017-03-22
The Greens have condemned the Victorian government’s declaration that duck shooting opening weekend was a success, as hundreds of protected and threatened birds were illegally shot and killed.
Animal welfare volunteers collected more than 800 injured and dead birds from wetlands across the state, including:
- 68 threatened freckled ducks
- 21 threatened blue bill ducks
- 24 threatened and protected blue winged shovelers
- 34 protected eurasian coots
- 25 protected grebes
The Greens want duck shooting to be abolished in Victoria, as it already has in Queensland, New South Wales and Western Australia, but in the interim have advocated for wetlands where protected species are present to be closed to shooting.
The government failed to close wetlands where populations of protected waterbird species were present before opening weekend, but must act now before more protected birds are killed.
“The government has blood on its hands. The agriculture minister needs to close all wetlands where protected waterbirds have been spotted before more are killed,” Victorian Greens leader Greg Barber said.
“The slaughter of protected birds was tragic but unsurprising. The government knew these birds were present, but chose to allow shooting anyway,” he said.