I started the campaign to ban duck shooting in 1986 for one reason: I simply didn’t like the violence and cruelty that 100,000 Victorian duck shooters inflicted on Australia’s native waterbirds.
Duck shooting was about killing and wounding defenceless native waterbirds, so we added a new, but very simple idea to this activity. We took rescuers out to the wetlands, as well as the first mobile veterinary clinics.
The campaign was based on two images. The first was the violent image of a duck shooter using a semiautomatic shotgun (as they did in those days) shooting down a small defenceless native waterbird.
The second image was one of kindness and compassion, with a rescuer struggling out of the water carrying a wounded bird. As a former television cameraman I knew that an image of kindness would always triumph over a senseless act of violence.
You may then ask how could 15 rescuers ever have an impact on 100,000 duck shooters? The answer to that question is very simple – the media came out to the wetlands with us. Images depicting violence and cruelty were broadcast around the country along with courageous images of rescuers struggling out of the wetlands carrying wounded birds.
Source: Supplied
Source: Supplied
The public sitting down to watch the nightly television news saw images of wounded birds receiving urgent veterinary treatment, as the ugly sound of gunshots firing at other birds could be heard in the background.
Hundreds of concerned members of the public joined our rescue team over the next few years.
After a short campaign in Western Australia in 1990, recreational duck shooting was banned by Labor Premier Carmen Lawrence. NSW followed with a ban in 1995 and ten years later Premier Peter Beattie banned the activity saying that Queensland was now the smart state for looking after its native waterbirds.
In Victoria, the numbers of duck shooters have declined by some 75,000 over the last 30 years. This has been due to the courage and commitment of our rescue team, and the public opposition to the violence and cruelty that duck shooters inflict on native waterbirds. These achievements have taken place despite Labor and Liberal politicians going out of their way to protect a dwindling number of duck shooters who now make up only 0.4 per cent of Victoria’s population.
I'll be unable to attend the wetlands this year owing to receiving a six-month ban in the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court for obstructing a Game Management Authority officer at last year’s opening weekend. But the good news is that Lyn White and Animals Australia have joined us In the fight to ban duck shooting.
Our campaign will continue until duck shooting is banned.
