Parents Warned Duck Shooting Too Dangerous

Careless and reckless behaviour during the first day of duck shooting has resulted in a fatal shooting and the Armed Offenders Squad arresting a gun-wielding duck shooter in a bar. Police say they received about 15 complaints relating to unsafe behaviour involving firearms.

Animal advocacy group SAFE says these incidents highlight that duck shooting is far too dangerous to be promoted as ‘fun’ and ‘sporting’.

SAFE is issuing a strong warning to parents to reconsider allowing their children to use shotguns to kill animals in the wake of the fatal shooting and police complaints. Last year a ten-year-old boy suffered serious shotgun injuries to his right hand while shooting. SAFE says it is just a matter of time before a child is hurt or killed this season.

SAFE says it is particularly deplorable that Fish and Game is this year actively promoting their ‘sport’ as fun and exciting to young children when they are effectively putting children into a war zone.

“It is ludicrous that Fish and Game are encouraging young children, some of whom could barely write their name, to hold and fire a shotgun. To place children in what is tantamount to a war zone, where 40,000 shooters are blasting at whatever moves, is reckless and irresponsible. No matter how many rules are put in place, the sad fact remains that loaded guns in the hands of over-zealous amateurs is a recipe for disaster,” says SAFE campaign director Eliot Pryor.

SAFE estimates the nations’ duck shooters were responsible for shooting over 200,000 ducks, geese and swans this weekend, with as many as one-third crippled and maimed.

“International research reveals 20-45 per cent of waterfowl shot by shooters are wounded and not retrieved, causing alarming levels of suffering. SAFE believes tens of thousands of ducks, geese and swans, including non-game and protected birds, would have been left crippled in fields and lakes to die a lingering death since Saturday,” says Mr Pryor.

“To call this ‘ethical’ hunting is an oxymoron and to encourage young people to join this bloodsport is sending the wrong message to the next generation,” he says.

Teenagers as young as fifteen can shoot on their own while those under twelve can buy a hunting licence online for $2 and fire a shotgun under the supervision of someone over the age of fifteen.

SAFE calls on families to seriously consider the risk of injury to their loved ones and encourages them not to participate in the cruel ‘sport’ of duck shooting.

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