Good on ya Paul, and everyone who has taken time out to protest this
senseless act of cruelty.
Regards,
Mark Young
-----Original Message-----
From:
On Behalf Of Paul Dodd
Sent: Sunday, 22 March 2009 5:09 PM
To:
Subject: Duck Hunting
For the first time Ruth and I found ourselves at a wetland at dawn
yesterday, hoping we wouldn't see any birds. We had decided to participate
in the Coalition Against Duck Shooting's protest against the Victorian
Government's decision to allow a duck hunting season in 2009. I do not
normally consider myself an activist, and nor do I particularly consider
myself a "greenie" (whatever that means) - but as a lover of birds and
wildlife, and someone that spends as much time as possible outdoors in our
National Parks and reserves, I was so appalled by the government's decision
that I decided that I needed to act.
The story starts some years ago when Ruth and I first had contact with
Laurie Levy, Director of the Coalition Against Duck Shooting, and the "face"
of the anti-duck shooting campaign since about 1986. Ruth had to do an
assignment for her university course, and chose to write about the
Blue-billed Duck. In the course of doing her research she contacted Laurie
to ask him about the impact of duck hunting on this particular species. A
more passionate man would be hard to imagine! Laurie has worked tirelessly
over the years to have duck hunting around Australia, and particularly in
Victoria, banned - and is willing to talk to anyone and everyone on the
subject, and does!
More recently we met up with Laurie through our involvement with the
Victoria branch of Birds Australia, and we have had many opportunities to
talk with him about duck hunting. Up until 4 February this year, we all
thought that there would be no duck hunting season this year. Unfortunately
that was not to be the case - the government announced a "limited" duck
hunting season of 49 days duration. As soon as we saw Laurie again after
that, Ruth and I said that we would participate in the duck rescue effort
and protest on the opening weekend.
On Thursday last week, we attended our orientation meeting - where we were
trained in what to do and how to behave at the protest. We were also told
that this year we would be going to Sale - which has long been regarded as
the heart of the duck hunting community. In the weeks leading up to the
season, the Coalition Against Duck Hunting had surveyed the game reserves
around the state and decided that the Gippsland wetlands were the only ones
with enough water - as a result, that's where we we were going. The briefing
covered how to behave towards the shooters, the police and wildlife
officers, what to do with injured waterfowl, what to do with dead waterfowl
and so on.
At 4:45am on Saturday morning, in quite thick fog, we found ourselves at one
of the campgrounds in Sale with a number of other protesters. We checked in
to say that we had arrived, and were assigned our teams, but we had no idea
at this stage of where we were going, or even how many people would be
there. After the organisers had a brief, huddled conversation, the word
spread, "It's Dowd's..." - meaning that we'd be heading for Dowd's Morass,
about 12km from Sale. In the next half hour, we had a cup of coffee,
prepared ourselves in whatever ways were necessary and got ready to leave.
It is interesting to note that at least one newspaper photographer was also
with us, documenting the preparations.
By 5:15am, we were in a queue of cars and other vehicles and slowly heading
out of the campground. We first headed towards the town, and as we were
heading in that direction a long queue of vehicles were heading in the
opposite - direction. It took me a moment or two to realise, that we were
being passed by the head of our own queue, as we were heading to a
roundabout to turn around - it was considered safer to do this than have a
hundred or so vehicles turning right from the campground. As we rounded the
roundabout, I could see other vehicles joining us - protesters that had
stayed in motels or other accommodation rather than the campground. We
passed the police station and saw that all the officers were standing out
the front looking at the convoy in a rather bemused manner.
During the drive to Dowd's Morass there were fog-free areas and we got to
see an impressive sight - a queue of vehicles kilometres long, all with one
thought in mind - to protest against, and hopefully to stop duck hunting.
Ultimately we turned into a dirt road and headed along that for a while
before being directed to an area on the side of the road to park. Directly
in front of us, was a camp of some sort, with a number of 4WD vehicles, and
tents. After a moment or two, it clicked - these were the hunters - the
"enemy"! There were about eight vehicles, a number of tents and a larger,
open tent set up as a cooking area. The hunter's camp was separated from the
area where we parked by wire fence (although both areas were public land).
Once we got out of the car, we prepared ourselves for entering the water.
For Ruth and I that meant changing our shoes for wetsuit booties, rolling
our trouser legs up and donning orange reflective vests. We walked up the
track to where the main body of protesters were gathering - it seemed like
we we walking for ages, but in actual fact it was only a hundred metres or
so. Someone was yelling out, "Whistles! Come here if you need a whistle!" So
we collected our whistles. Someone else was handing out pillowslips, so we
collected a couple of those. Reality set in then - the pillow slips are for
covering the wounded birds that we would find - covering them has a calming
affect - however it is important to not get your pillowslip wet, because the
bird may suffocate.
Team leaders were calling out, "Team 3 here!", "Team 7 here!" and so on.
Ruth and I had been assigned to Dave Evans - in Team 1. Dave is the
coordinator - he is Laurie's eyes and ears on the ground, and decides which
teams go where and what they should do. There were at least 12 teams with
upto about 15 members in each team. Our team briefing was short - stay with
your team leader and do what they say. Team leaders wear a patch front and
back with the team number in BIG red digits. We'll be entering the water
before first light (at 7:10am). The law says that the hunters are allowed to
commence shooting at 7:10am, and the protestors are not allowed in the water
until 10am. We will be ignoring that law - if we get caught, it is a $100
fine. If anyone isn't comfortable with breaking that law, they should leave
the team now (no-one left). Remember to stay 10m from the hunters. Do not
flush birds that are on the water. Do not flush birds from the reeds. If you
see birds flying overhead, use your whistles to scare the birds AWAY from
the guns - not TOWARDS.
Next was Laurie's briefing to the group. Thanking everyone for attending,
reminding us of why we're here - to rescue wounded waterfowl and to prevent
the hunters from actually killing and wounding the birds by scaring the
birds, or by distracting the hunters. Please avoid any confrontations, abide
by the 10m law. Laurie then introduced the representatives from Wildlife
Victoria - they would be waiting on the shore to collect wounded birds - a
mobile veterinary clinc would be established to treat any wounded birds
brought in. Next the legal representative briefed us - please see him if
there were any legal issues - overbearing police or wildlife officers, and
so on - but above all, RESPECT the police. Finally a time-check - we'll be
entering the water in about 25 minutes.
Next the police and wildlife officers met with Laurie and the legal
representative. The police representative, a sergeant, reminded Laurie of
the law - to which Laurie said that we would be entering the water before
10am. The police didn't seem too concerned by that, and expressed a desire
for a confrontation-free day. The wildlife officers, on the other hand,
seemed to take it as a personal attack that the protesters were there, and
that we would dare interfere with their nicely run opening weekend. I was
rather surprised by this - I genuinely thought that DSE officers would be
anti-hunting and sympathetic to the protesters cause - but clearly not.
A quick word on the protesters. I wasn't sure what to expect - I imagined
that the majority would be "greenies", "hippies", "tree-huggers" - the
people you see chained to trees to stop logging. Sure, there were definitely
people that fitted that mould. Plenty of beards and dreadlocks. But there
were many others - I'm a business owner, there were clearly other people
like me. There were shopkeepers, students, bird watchers, office workers,
retired people, nature lovers - ordinary people. The one thing we had in
common was a disgust that people would kill living creatures for sport. More
than that, though, was that a 21st century government would actually ALLOW
that behaviour.
Around 6:30am the sky lightened somewhat and Dave yelled out, "To your
teams". Everyone moved towards their team leaders and we headed to the
water. Someone had placed carpet over the barbed wire fence (whilst the
property was public, cattle are allowed to graze there), so we easily
clambered over the fence and headed towards the water - about 170 people. As
we stepped into the water, a wildlife officer screamed at us, "5m from the
water! 5m from the water!" Dave yelled, "COME ON!" So with that, we broke
the law and entered the water.
The water wasn't cold, but the mud was deep, thick and incredibly sticky.
Within 10m or so from shore, we were knee-deep in water and mud. Every so
often, though, we would take a step and sink to thigh-depth. Walking was
incredibly hard-going. Even though the sky was lightening, the fog was still
thick - adding an eerie, atmospheric mood to the morning. We walked out
parallel to an old fence in the water. As we walked out I could see ducks in
the water - Dave saw that I had noticed and said, "They're decoys." As we
approached a large island in the middle of the morass, I could just make out
a figure on the shore in the gloom - a hunter (or "shooter" to use the
protester's terminology). I pointed the shooter out to the others. Once
again, reality bit.
Once we came within 10m or so of the island, we decided to turn right. It
was just about 7am and still very foggy. At that moment the guns started -
at least 10 minutes before the official start of the season. What they were
shooting at is anyone's guess, because we saw nothing. We followed the
island around to the right and as we passed one shooter, a team member from
another team was there tying the shooter into his nook with police tape and
streamers! Apparently this shooter, Steve, was known to the protesters from
previous years. He seemed to take it quite good naturedly! We kept moving,
passing more decoys in the water and passing other shooters. Certainly none
of the shooters we passed were shooting at anything, but all we could hear
above our squelching was gunfire. After about 20 minutes, we were satisfied
that all shooters were covered further around to the right, but more than
that, there were simply no ducks to be seen!
We turned around and started heading back the way we came. The morning was
becoming lighter, although it was still foggy. We passed the streamer-bound
shooter. He hadn't touched the streamers or tape that were surrounding him.
He gave us a wave as we passed by. We crossed the mostly submerged fence and
started to head to the left hand side of the island. As we walked along we
passed through a collection of decoys. "Oy! Get away from my decoys!", the
hunter shouted. "I'm supposed to cooperate with you lot!" As we walked on,
the hunter's wife (one of two female shooters we heard of on that day)
yelled at us, "You guys are a joke! What the hell do you think you're doing
here? Piss off, the lot of you!" This provoked one of the protesters in our
team to start yelling insults back again. In the end, nothing worse happened
- just a few insults traded. On the other side of the hunter's patch was a
camoflaged boat, and the other hunters' son, who was also a hunter. Dave
commented that this was one of the best set ups he had ever seen.
Ruth and I decided to stay and shadow these hunters while the rest of our
team found a gap through the middle of the island to the other side (where
we could continuously hear gunfire). We also thought that it was best if we
stood guard over these hunters, since they had engaged in trading insults
with our team - I was worried that if others stayed, the situation may
escalate. Fortunately a photographer from The Age had arrived, and was busy
taking photos - mostly of the hunters, but also of protesters in the
background, with the hunters in the foreground. Ruth and I stood guard, in
the area between the hunters and their decoys. On a couple of occasions, we
saw Black Ducks flying overhead. Mostly they were too high - shotguns only
have a range of 50-80m, but sometimes we saw the ducks heading in our
direction at less than this height. We blew our whistles as loudly as we
could, and amazingly they turned around and flew out of the range of the
guns!
Once the photographer left, on several occasions, the female hunter fired
shot over our heads - not shooting at anything, just trying to intimidate
us. To be honest, she was by far the most aggressive of all the hunters we
encountered. Other hunters on the shore side of the morass also fired at us
- generally they fired almost straight up so the shot would come raining
down on us. As the shot comes down, it sounds like hail falling. It doesn't
hurt, provided that you're not looking up. Every time the shot came raining
down on us, the hunter and his wife would laugh. Every time ducks flew over,
well out of range, we'd hear the gunfire from all around us. For some reason
"our" hunters didn't fire at the ducks - I guess they realised that they
were too far away. The female hunter yelled out to us a few times, "I hope
you're enjoying ruining our day", "What is it like getting paid $100 to
stand there?" I couldn't resist - I had to respond to that one... "I don't
get paid, where did you hear that?" To which she replied, "We've been told
that you lot get paid $100 each to protest." I laughed and told her that
that was the most ridiculous thing I'd ever heard.
We noticed some police and wildlife officers had walked out and were talking
to a nearby hunter. When they finished talking with that hunter, they
started to head towards our hunters. We decided that the best course of
action was to walk away - not because we were afraid to be fined, but
rather, if we were fined we'd have to leave the wetland for the remainder of
the day. As we were walking away, Dave and the rest of our team appeared and
were heading towards us. As quickly as I could I moved up to him and told
him the police and wildlife officers were there. Dave got on the radio and
asked if anyone at base knew if the police were fining people, or kicking
them off the water. So far no-one knew, which presumably meant that no-one
had been kicked off, but we couldn't be certain. It was decided that the
team, and a second team that joined up with ours, would keep moving ahead of
the police, and two members of the other team would act as "sacrificial
lambs", and walk towards them and then back to shore. The police paid no
attention to the protesters, so we figured that we'd probably be safe.
Nonetheless, we felt that the police and wildlife officers were keeping our
hunters busy, and we could probably be better used elsewhere.
We spent another hour walking to the left of the morass, passing flocks of
"decoys". We encountered another team of protesters who told us that all the
shooters on the left side of the morass had given up for the day. The season
started at 7:10am and these hunters had given up before 9am. Quite a
satisfying start, I thought.
Rumours abounded that there were 100 vehicles on the other side of the
morass (presumably hunters vehicles). We could still hear gunfire from the
other side of the island, so there were definitely shooters still there. We
discussed tactics for a minute or two - there were basically two options,
head to shore (and risk getting booked by the police) or attempt to cross
the island to the other side. We chose the shore approach because we thought
that may be faster, despite the obvious risk that if two teams, amounting to
about 30 protesters, were caught, we'd be out of action for the remainder of
the day. As we walked towards the shore, we called in to base for transport,
and a minivan miraculously appeared. Unfortunately, as we reached the edge
of the water, we realised that the land was private property, so we couldn't
cross it - so we decided on plan B.
We started heading back across the water towards the island. A number of the
protesters decided to go back to base to rest (we'd been wading through
water and mud for about three hours). Once we reached the island, we waded
through thick mud to the path through to the other side. The water reached
thigh depth and more. One of the protesters, Sarah, who was the leader of
the other team that joined us, was probably the best dressed protester of
all! I think she would not have looked out of place in Chapel Street, with
her long black hair, wearing fashionable jeans, and a long red woollen
jacket.
I was keeping up with Dave as we reached the path through the island. I
could hear squelching behind me and had assumed that it was Ruth - but when
I turned around, she wasn't there. I walked back through the channel and
Sarah told me that Ruth was resting a bit further back. I came across her on
the edge of the island, resting against a branch - she looked exhausted. I
asked if she wanted to go back and she nodded, "Yes." It was now well past
10am so we were safe to exit the water.
We walked back and came out of the water. Most other teams were already out.
Back at base we saw Laurie being interviewed by a TV reporter. Only a couple
of police officers were left and they were chatting with protesters over
cups of coffee. We walked up to the veterinary tent - and found that they
had had NO business at all that day. We walked over to the catering tent and
had a couple of cups of soup, and a vegan sausage on bread - definitely a
new experience for me! Laurie's interview finished up and he came to the
catering tent. We asked him how the day had gone - he told us that it had
been very quiet - almost no birds, and to that point no casualties at all.
Apparently two hunters had been booked by the police, one for having no
licence. Also two protesters were booked, both for violating the 10m rule.
No one had been booked for entering the water before 10am. As we were
talking to him, a team member came up to Laurie and gave him a dead duck in
a pillow slip. The one and only casualty of the day.
Back at the hunters camp, they had come in from the water. They were sitting
around their camp fire drinking beer. The day was over for them.
I am only left with one question. Why, John Brumby, why do we need this
ridiculous "sport"?
http://www.theage.com.au/national/protesters-gun-for-wild-west-shooters-as-d
uck-season-opens-20090321-951p.html
http://news.theage.com.au/breaking-news-national/duck-shooters-clash-with-ac
tivists-20090321-94x1.html
Paul Dodd
Docklands, Victoria
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