Let the slaughter begin.

Press, 18 April 1980, Page 13

Let the slaughter begin.

By

OLIVER RIDDELL

When the South Island duck-shooting season begins tomorrow, nearly half a million birds will be approaching the end of their life. Another 750,000 are expected to be shot in the North Island. The Wildlife Service estimates that about 20 per cent of the available birds are shot in New Zealand each year—“available” in the sense that they may be shot and are present where shooters can reach them. Because the number of birds shot every vear is reasonably consistent nationally, if not locally, and the numbers show a slight upward trend, it is deduced that the bird population is stable and even increasing slightly. In 1979, 1,214.200 birds were shot (compared with 1,254.200 in 1978). There were 728,200 (771,200) recovered in the North Island and 486,000 (483,000) in the South Island. Multiplied by five, the total exploitable bird population in New Zealand is estimated to be about 6,071.000. It is difficult to calculate the size of the crippling loss, but all birds shot down but not recovered would die. The Wildlife Service estimates that about seven per cent of the potential bag is lost. The abundance of species varies from district to district. A Wildlife officer, Tom Caithness, says the various species of waterfowl get on remarkably well together—“certainly a great deal better than hunters do when trying to shoot the birds.” Every year Mr Caithness asks duck-shooters to keep diaries of the birds they have shot or failed to shoot, with any comments appropriate. From these he prepares: a report on the past season, with fairly pithy comment where appropriate, for shooters the next season. The Wildlife Sendee also gains a great deal of useful information this way which would otherwise be lost. He says that comments made to him and personal experience have shown the value of a retriever dog to shooters. He has no doubt that anyone working their dog around the margins of or near areas where much opening, week-end shooting has been done, on the second and third days of the season, will flush out many wounded or dead birds. Once, he and two friends used two dogs, and shot and retrieved 11 birds on opening day. The next day they never shot a bird, but the dogs retrieved another'ls birds for them. It is quite clear that dog owners on public waters, in particular, are far more successful than those not having the use of a dog. Dog users, perhaps, hunt in places not considered bv hunters without dogs in the justified belief that they could not retrieve the birds there. Limit bags vary between locality and district. They are set with regard to the local population, and'the Wildlife Service prefers to err on the side of caution. Where the limit, say, for paradise ducks is three, then pressure to raise it to four, if successful, could theoretically raise the daily take by 25 per cent. This could be devastating to a local population.