Letters to the Papers
Recently in the media, there has been a lot of misinformation and resistance surrounding duck hunting following the announcement of the season. Here are a couple of letters written by some of our members to the media.
Recent letters against duck hunting are based on emotion and ignore facts. Let’s look at a few facts.
Duck hunting poses no threat to the species hunted. Respected professors in various earth sciences, Richard Kingsford, Grahame Webb, and Peter Fullagar, all agreed in a review that “all scientific studies indicate that hunting has no effect on waterfowl populations.”
Claims of suffering are greatly exaggerated. Former 20-year serving President of the RSPCA, John Strachan, observed a duck hunt for some hours, and commented to me afterwards that he had no qualms with what he saw. Wounding rates quoted by animal liberationists are not supported by field observations, and have been debunked by mathematical analysis years ago.
We should remember that all human interaction with animals in our food production systems inevitably involves some degree of animal suffering, including handling, transport, captivity, castration, veterinary procedures, pest control such as myxomatosis etc. For those who are intimate with reality, duck hunting clearly falls within an acceptable range of suffering when harvesting this abundance of healthy wild food.
If I choose to eat a wild duck rather than a chicken from the supermarket, on average I’d bet the duck is likely to have suffered the least!
John Kentish
Dear Editor
Duck Hunting is a very emotional subject at the moment.Every Western Democracy in the World allows its citizens to Hunt their own food and Ducks are no exception.
Hunting seasons in S,A. are based on best available science and sustainability of the resource.
Stringent Regulations are in place to ensure there are no negative impacts on bird numbers.
Hunting ducks for the table has been carried out in S.A. since settlement.
It is a Harvestable natural resource no different to fishing.If as a society we eat meat how can we justify Banning hunting your own food.
Carried out ethically it has no negative impact on Duck numbers or the enviroment
Regards Mark Fabris