The ABC’s state political reporter has today published a highly speculative anti-duck hunting story. The story’s only link to the reporter’s remit of ‘politics’ is that she appears to be playing it.
When we see a news story, the questions we ask are “who put this here?” and “what is their agenda?”. It would be good if the journalists, particularly publicly funded journalists, did the same.
The ABC has form on this, and SSAA Victoria has form taking them to task. SSAA Victoria forced the amendment of an ABC article in January 2021 due to inaccuracies in its reporting of duck hunting matters. The ABC acknowledged that the article incorrectly reported the results of a survey by the Victorian Game Management Authority (GMA) and was not in keeping with the ABC’s editorial standards for accuracy. As a result of the complaints, the headline, a key point, the introduction to the article and elements within the story were corrected and updated. An Editor’s Note was appended, which stated: “This article originally reported that 80 per cent of duck hunters incorrectly answered questions on the GMA survey about identifying protected bird species. This was wrong, and the article has been corrected”. A reference to duck hunting being banned in NSW was also corrected
The story concerns the levels of lead detected in wild ducks. This is presented as news even though the hunting community worked productively with the government to phase out lead shot for duck hunting over twenty-one years ago, despite the fact that Victoria’s Chief Environmental Scientist Mark Taylor described the testing results as “inconclusive”.
The story includes quotes from most of the ‘usual suspects’, including the secretive (and tiny) Regional Victorians Opposed to Duck Shooting (RVOTDS), who seem to have curiously developed a concern for the health and wellbeing of Victoria’s licensed duck hunters. SSAA Victoria Hunting Manager David Laird welcomed the unexpected concern but quickly reassured people that game meat is safe.
“We thank them (RVOTDS) for their concern, and we are pleased to reassure them that not only is properly handled wild shot game meat safe for human consumption, it’s also delicious and nutritious with the added benefit of hunters enjoying heightened wellbeing and contributing money to regional economies.”
The story also quotes Dr Jordan Hampton from the Veterinary faculty at the University of Melbourne, who reportedly said
“There is a simple and immediate solution — we need to ban all lead ammunition — not just for ducks”.
SSAA Victoria found this particularly curious, as Dr Hampton’s own research indicates that non-toxic ammunition is not yet up to the task for perhaps the most common hunted quarry in Australia.
“The only commercially available lead‐free .22 LR ammunition available for shooting European rabbits in Australia at the time of our study produced lower precision, poorer animal welfare outcomes, poorer terminal ballistics, and were more expensive than commonly used lead‐based ammunition. Any benefits to humans and scavenging wildlife derived from using lead‐free bullets in this context would need to be weighed against animal welfare costs borne by animals targeted by shooting.” (our emphasis)
SSAA Victoria support Dr Hampton’s conclusion in his considered research over what the Association can only hope were misreported, off-the-cuff comments to a journalist who seems to have predetermined the conclusion of her own story. David Laird outlined the complexities involved in these discussions.
“These are not ‘zero-sum’ issues, and any benefits to humans and scavenging wildlife derived from using lead‐free bullets absolutely need to be weighed against animal welfare costs borne by animals targeted by shooting. SSAA Victoria will continue to insist that clear and verifiable evidence drives these discussions and that policymakers resist falling prey to propaganda campaigns being waged through news organisations that we should be able to expect better from.”
Note – We know that the bird in the photo is a Mallard, not a native game bird – we didn’t have a photo of a Black Duck with no wings!
