In 2025 the stench of death in Victoria has been particularly bad. This time it festers in the Melbourne CBD as more than 250 dead waterbirds, including threatened species, were displayed outside the Victorian Premier’s office.

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“These birds represent just a tiny fraction of all birds that are illegally shot and left wounded across Victoria. Threatened birds include rare Freckled Ducks and Blue-winged Shovelers were recovered by rescuers in just the first few days of the 2025 duck shooting season, at only two wetlands near Boort in north west Victoria. Sixty wounded birds were treated on-site in a mobile veterinary clinic.” Coalition Against Duck Shooting Campaign Director, Laurie Levy

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Laurie goes on to say:

“With Victoria’s massive debt, instead of misspending public funds of around $11 million this year to support duck shooters who make up less than 0.2 per cent of the state’s population, it is time to follow the three more progressive states of Queensland, South Australia and Western Australia, where duck shooting is banned. Victoria could then develop a thriving international First Nations nature-based, cultural tourism industry that would bring millions of dollars into regional Victoria”.

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In 2025, dry conditions mean waterbirds in Victoria have fewer places to go and that means a concentration of birdlife on water sources that are still viable as habitat. It also means a concentration of shooters. As a result wildlife rescuers report, that the opening week was a mass slaughter of birdlife with most birds dead, where only a few days ago there were thousands.

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In Geelong, duck rescuer, Nat Kopas says:

“The inherent and unavoidably cruel duck shooting outweighs all arguments in favour of keeping a blood sport that only  0.2 per cent of people in Victoria actually want. Add in the negative impact on residents, visitors and tourism opportunities and there is no reason to allow duck shooting to continue. On day one of the season this year, I watched as a duck was shot, mocked and then ignored as she huddled in pain on the shore. I helped rescue her and get her to vet treatment, where an X-ray revealed 3 pellets, fractured wing and a broken pelvis. Without volunteer rescuers this native duck would have been in agony for days until eventual death. This is a common story, it happens every day of the season. But the vast number of wounded are never found”.

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Quail update

Five days before the Quail shooting season opened, the Victorian Government released its advice regarding the 2025 Stubble Quail hunting season. Given conditions the outcome is shocking, a full 86 day season will full bag limits of 20 Stubble Quail per day per shooter.

There is yet more mischief with numbers, based on a count of 453 birds in 2023 (2024 count numbers not disclosed), the population estimate (from the 2023 count) for Stubble Quail in Victoria is 6,700,000, that is a lot more than the number of people (5,000,000) in the city of Melbourne.

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Standard rebuttals

Following the 2024 duck shooting season in Victoria and a series of assaults on members of the general public, some elderly, visiting Ramsar sites and/or rescuing injured birds in Victoria, these assaults were made by public servants, complaints were made to the Victorian Ombudsman and the Ramsar Secretariat based in Gland, Switzerland.

From two sets of enquiries by the Ramsar Secretariat, here are responses from the Federal Government in October and November 2024. Responses were from both the Director and Assistant Director, (unnamed, which itself is ill mannered) Wetlands Section Environmental Water and Aquatic Ecosystems Division, Engagement, Policy and Wetlands Branch Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water.

Responses are no more than the standard rebuttal. These kinds of nonsense responses and dismissal of complainants have led to the terrible situation described here in 2025, because the Victorian Government knows it can get away with its behaviours in relation to the environment and it will be supported by the Australian Government in doing so. Seasons are now locked in for three seasons along with other regulations, to give the shooters ‘certainty’. 1080 is banned in most countries around the world and does not assist threatened or rare species, it poisons them. I quote:

“In the state of Victoria, duck hunting is managed under section 28A of the Wildlife Act 1975 and its associated regulations. Bag limits, season dates and game species are prescribed, reviewed annually and modified according to environmental conditions and game duck population status and distribution. In 2024:

• The hunting season was limited to between 10 April to 5 June, with hunting only permitted between the hours of 8am and 30 minutes after sunset each day.
• The daily bag limit was 6 game ducks per day.
• Permitted species were the Pacific Black Duck, Mountain Duck, Chestnut Teal, Grey Teal, Pink-eared Duck and Wood Duck.

Although the duck species included in the analysis tend to habitually revisit locations, they can range over substantially larger areas (sometimes up to hundreds of kilometres) when migrating to and from breeding sites and/or when following rainfall. This presents difficulties in identifying site-specific effects.

The risk of lead contamination from current duck hunting practices is minimal and does not represent a change in the ecological character of the Gippsland Lakes or other Ramsar sites within Victoria.

Regarding the use of sodium fluoroacetate (1080) baits, 1080 is a poison used in lethal baiting programs throughout Australia to protect rare native species from introduced foxes, cats, pigs and rabbits. Some concern has been raised over the potential impacts of this bait on non-target species.

The use of 1080 in Australia is regulated by the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority (APVMA) up to the point of retail sale. The supply of 1080 products is strictly regulated and clear guidelines are provided to govern its use in all states and territories. In Victoria, the use of 1080 baits is overseen by the Victorian Department of Agriculture, which sets restrictions on its use”.

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