Hi Paul,
Thanks for all your efforts in such a good cause. I wrote to DSE expressing my
disgust at the way the government had gone wishy washy over this (strong gun
lobby behind it, I suspect) but I only got a "we thank and take note of your
thoughts" sort of reply. But I do feel that the more people who express their
opposition to this the more notice the government will take. I am
unfortunately too old to do anything physical like you but will continue to
press them by email.
Thanks,
Fiona
> From:
> To: ; ;
> Subject: RE: [Birding-Aus] Duck Hunting
> Date: Sun, 22 Mar 2009 23:57:15 +1100
>
> Peter,
>
> First of all, I agree that there is a distinction between the increased
> disturbance of threatened species due to the drought because of shooting, and
> the innate cruelty of shooting in general. For me, and I suspect the majority
> of anti-duck protesters, the fundamental issue that we are fighting against
> is the cruelty. In many respects it is the drought and low bird numbers that
> will hopefully result in the cessation of this activity. All the advice given
> to the government this year said exactly that. The government chose to ignore
> this advice.
>
> Duck hunting IS more cruel than fox and rabbit shooting, and certainly IS
> more cruel than the slaughtering of sheep and cattle for meat. Whilst I
> appreciate that many people are vegetarian because of their opposition to the
> slaughter of animals, I do believe that this slaughter is conducted in as
> humane a way as possible.
>
> Duck hunting is regarded as a sport. These creatures are not killed for food,
> nor because they are vermin. They are killed for the fun of it. The sheer joy
> of pointing a firearm at a living creature and pulling the trigger. Whilst
> there are "bag limits" imposed on shooters, they will continue to kill and
> wound waterfowl for the fun of it, without collecting the animals they have
> shot, so they don't exceed their bag counts. Shooters will also ignore
> wounded birds, because they are just too difficult to retrieve. It is much
> easier to simply shoot another one. These wounded birds will often die in
> agony with horrific wounds. Even if they don't die as a result of the shot,
> they will be taken by predators.
>
> Duck hunting is called "Recreational Shooting". Not even Field and Game
> Australia, Inc tries to hide the fact that this is done for fun. For no other
> reason.
>
> Paul
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Peter Shute
> Sent: Sunday, 22 March 2009 11:02 PM
> To: ; ;
>
> Subject: Re: [Birding-Aus] Duck Hunting
>
> I'm more concerned about the shooting and even the disturbance of species
> that are threatened or in low numbers because of the drought. The two issues
> (that and the cruelty) seem to become easily confused.
>
> It's cruel, but no more than fox or rabbit shooting, or even slaughtering
> sheep and cattle for meat.
>
> Peter Shute
>
>
> --------------------------
> Sent using BlackBerry
>
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