Duck shooting: cruel and dangerous for Australian wildlife.

For as long as some state governments permit the senseless ‘recreational’ slaughter of ducks, these sensitive native animals will be forced to endure shattered bills, fractured limbs, and punctured organs, and ducklings will be left without parents.

Duck shooting was banned in Western Australia, New South Wales and Queensland in the 90s and early 2000s on animal cruelty and environmental protection grounds. The rest of Australia is years behind.

Each year, hundreds of thousands of ducks are killed or left injured on the wetlands they call home across Victoria (Vic), South Australia (SA) and Tasmania (Tas).

The days are numbered for this cruel ‘recreational’ activity, but while state governments stall on making the obvious, and kindest, decision, wildlife is paying the ultimate price.

When it comes to blasting sensitive animals out of the sky with hundreds of pellets, sadly those who are killed instantly are considered the ‘lucky’ ones.

An estimated one out of every four birds shot could suffer for minutes, hours, even days. Some may drown in the water. Some may be scooped up, but instead of being met with kindness, be injured further and eventually killed at the hands of inexperienced shooters. Others who managed to escape will eventually succumb to their injuries, or be preyed upon, unable to flee.

Young, dependent birds may also suffer, orphaned when their parents are killed or abandoned when they flee the sound of gunfire in fear.

Despite a recent inquiry recommending an end to native bird hunting, Victoria’s Labor Government has chosen to allow the slaughter to continue. Similarly, South Australia has green-lit ongoing ‘recreational hunting’ of native birds after its own inquiry, while Tasmania’s government currently has no plans to ban this cruel ‘sport’.

This is what this ‘recreational activity’ looks like for Australian waterbirds…

When volunteer wildlife rescuers capture video evidence of cruelty on just one of Victoria’s thousands of wetlands, it raises serious concerns about how much illegal behaviour goes undetected elsewhere—and how many animals are suffering out of sight.

Only a small percentage of the community participates in this outdated ‘sport’, but their actions still result in enormous suffering for wildlife. The ‘shooting season’ length and ‘bag limits’ (kill quotas) mean birds can suffer in the hundreds of thousands. Usually “protected” ducks have their protection status lifted so that shooters can kill them between March and June.

In 2024 alone, it’s estimated over 390,000 ducks were killed in Victoria (Vic), and in South Australia, the number of ducks is estimated at over 40,000 – not including those wounded and left to die on the wetlands.

Surveys of waterbird numbers make these numbers even more concerning… According to the most recent survey of Australia’s east coast (including Vic) waterbird numbers have almost halved in the last 12 months due to a lack of rainfall leaving them little habitat to breed. Recent surveys also indicate certain “game” duck populations in SA are also struggling, facing long-term declines in abundance. The last thing they need is to be shot for ‘fun’.

The rural location of wetlands and the number of licenced shooters make effective monitoring impossible. No regulating body can ensure the rules are being followed by thousands of shooters spread across public game reserves and private property. And individual animals suffer greatly, as do species as a whole.

Shooters in Vic, SA and Tas must pass a Waterfowl Identification Test only once, meaning there is no obligation to refresh their knowledge of duck species before heading out to the wetlands each year. A survey in Vic conducted by the state’s hunting regulator itself, revealed a shocking 80% of shooters couldn’t identify species they’re permitted to kill and those who are protected. Given the single identification test applies to all states, concern for the safety and future of ‘non-game’ species, including threatened species, is warranted.

Almost beyond comprehension, the rules also permit shooting ducks 30 minutes after sunset in Vic, 30 minutes before sunrise and after sunset in SA, and up to an hour before sunrise and after sunset in Tas. The future of some duck species is reliant on a shooter’s ability to identify species at dawn and dusk when there’s barely any sunlight.

There is no requirement to undertake any training or prove any competency in killing injured birds ‘humanely’ in order to obtain a shooting licence. In the aforementioned shooter survey in Vic, 84% didn’t know how to kill ducks they had shot and injured. With no competency test in place, the fragile bodies of sensitive ducks are literally in the hands of potentially inexperienced shooters who are out to kill them ‘for sport’.

It was recently revealed that lead ammunition is still being used by some shooters, despite being banned for two decades in Vic – yet another example of the rules in place failing to protect animals and the environment. After causing an excruciating death for birds who are shot and escape, lead remains in the environment for years, posing a threat to protected animals like wedge-tailed eagles and scavenging wildlife. The high levels of lead found in ducks at four Victorian waterways indicated a potential risk to human health too, with levels “well above” food safety standards.

More than 30 years have passed since duck shooting was first banned in an Australian state (WA). And the overwhelming majority in the remaining ‘duck shooting’ states – Vic, SA and Tas – want to see this senseless killing finally put to an end.

A recent RSPCA survey found 9 out of 10 Victorians would never shoot a duck. According to the RSPCA SA, more than 7 out of 10 South Australians want to see an end to duck and quail shooting (ReachTEL 2020; Australia Institute 2023; uComms 2023).

In contrast, duck shooters represent less than one per cent of the community in SA. And in Tas, according to Eric Woehler from BirdLife Tasmania, the number of duck shooters represents a similarly low percentage of the community – “about 0.2 per cent…clearly the other 99.8 per cent of the population aren’t necessarily supportive of that way of life.”

It is well overdue for Vic, SA and Tas to choose kindness, and make Australia safer for ducks and other native wildlife.

So long as state governments permit the shooting of precious wildlife to go on, they are allowing the suffering of Australian animals to continue.

• For ducks in Victoria: Call on the Victorian Government to end duck shooting with an urgent letter here.
• For ducks in South Australia: Urge the South Australian Government to end duck shooting here.
• For ducks in Tasmania: Email the Premier of Tasmania, Jeremy Rockliff, at this address jeremy.rockliff@parliament.tas.gov.au