Help End Duck Shooting

The beautiful wetlands of South Australia, Tasmania and Victoria should be safe havens for wildlife; instead every year in Autumn and early Winter they become killing fields.

At this moment the lives of hundreds of thousands of native waterbirds are under threat. Tasmania and Victoria have already confirmed that they will permit a duck hunting season in 2012 and South Australia will also soon decide.

While numbers of active shooters dropped substantially during the opening weekend of the 2011 season, there was no reprieve for ducks, with numbers of birds killed and captured more than doubling from an estimated 270,000 in 2010 to more than 600,000 in 2011, in Victoria alone. For every bird killed and captured it is estimated that at least one more escapes injured. So in excess of one million birds will have been harmed or killed during the 2011 shooting season -- with those who escaped likely to have suffered prolonged pain and even death from their untreated wounds.

Queensland, New South Wales and Western Australia have already banned duck shooting due to the extreme suffering caused to birds.

Please help us protect these defenceless birds and send a strong message to the Governments of Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania, urging them to ban duck hunting.

Take Action!

Subject: (please enter a subject line) Dear Decision Maker, (please edit the letter below, or send as-is) I'm writing to urge you to ban duck hunting. Most Australians are appalled by the idea that their government would permit the killing of native wildlife for fun. This 'sport' is cruel, unsustainable and has no place in our society. Duck shooting inevitably causes significant animal suffering. It's estimated that for every bird killed and captured, at least one more bird will escape wounded. Given more than 600,000 birds were killed and captured in Victoria alone during the 2011 shooting season, it's very likely that in excess one million birds were wounded or killed by shooters in 2011. There are no guarantees of a quick death for wounded birds (particularly those that escape injured), and there is also no guarantee that non target species won't be killed, especially with the lack of wildlife officers available to regulate this slaughter. Progressive states such as New South Wales, Western Australia and Queensland have all already banned duck hunting. Please follow their lead. I urge you not to allow a duck hunting season in 2012 and to end this cruel slaughter for good by banning duck hunting. Sincerely, Your Name

We will send this e-mail to:

• Ted Baillieu, Premier of Victoria
• Lara Giddings, Premier of Tasmania
• The Hon Paul Caica, SA Minister for Environment and Conservation

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