Shotguns wound ducks
Ducks are not shot with single bullet rifles, but with shotguns that fire 120-200 pellets at a time. Pellets spread out as they leave the gun, so the further ducks are from the shooter, the more likely that they will be hit by only one or two pellets. Chances are they will be injured, but not killed. Thousands of ducks each season suffer the pain of broken wings, broken legs and body wounds.
Left: the duck's beak was smashed by a shotgun pellet. It had to be euthanased but not before suffering extreme pain.
Right: a wounded duck hid in the reeds to die.
Duck shooting causes pain and suffering
When a duck is shot, 1 of 5 things happens:
- The duck falls from the sky and is dead when it hits the water.
- The duck is wounded but picked up by the shooter (or his dog) and killed by wringing the neck.
- The duck is wounded, escapes, but dies a slow and painful death in the following hours or days.
- The duck is wounded, escapes and survives with embedded pellets.
- The duck is missed entirely.
National Parks and Wildlife and CSIRO have caught thousands of ducks before shooting starts and X-rayed them for embedded shotgun pellets. Between 8% and 17% of ducks, depending on species, have been shot in previous seasons. These are only the wounded birds in group 4, those who survived long enough to be X-rayed. However, the many wounded ducks in groups 2 and 3 also suffer extreme pain and fear.
In evidence of a different kind, the US Bureau of Sports, Fisheries and Wildlife subjected over 2000 ducks to shooting under perfect conditions. In cruel and macabre scientific studies, the ducks were tethered with wings flapping to sleds propelled along tracks. The sleds triggered a pre-aimed gun at a precise point, thus delivering a perfectly aimed shot. At a range of 40 yards, only about 2/3 of ducks were dead within a minute. At a range of 45 yards, this figure had dropped to about a half. Under normal conditions, nobody is a perfect shot and distances are hard to judge. An abattoir where many animals escaped wounded would be closed instantly. Only our native water birds are subjected to such barbarism.
Left: the broken wing of a rescued teal has been strapped by the vet.
Right: a bone broken by a shotgun pellet. The duck had to be euthanased.
Why doesn't the law protect ducks?
The Animal Welfare Act in South Australia makes it an offence to kill an animal in a way that causes unnecessary pain. Many ducks suffer pain before they die, which surely is unnecessary. It is also an offence to deliberately or unreasonably cause unnecessary pain, which applies to ducks who are wounded but survive.
In practice, it is virtually impossible to prove who shot a duck so that laying charges is extremely difficult. The only way to protect ducks from cruelty, and to protect endangered species, is to stop duck shooting.
Left: the vet removes a pellet from a wounded teal and Right: the vet stitches up a pellet wound.
SA Doesn't have to be heaps backward
Duck shooting was banned in WA as long ago as 1990, and has since been banned in NSW and Qld. When Qld Premier Peter Beattie banned duck shooting in 2005 he said: "This is not an appropriate activity in contemporary life in the Smart State.'' Lets make SA a Smart State and ban duck shooting, rather than being heaps backward.
