ILLEGAL SHOOTING

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 80, 16 August 1945, Page 4

ILLEGAL SHOOTING

SMALL-BORE RIFLE USERS ACCUSED MORE CARE IN SALE OF AMMUNITION WANTED By far the major part of illegal.shoot-, ing is done with the .22 rifle, and. the pretext on which the ammunition is purchased is usually that it is required for rabbit shooting, states “Forest and Bird” editorially. The paper states that: reports received by the Forest and Bird Protection Society from one end of New Zealand to the other lead to this conclusion. p “Permits to purchase .22 ammunition are issued by the Department of Agriculture through their stock inspectors, and it is evident that insufficient care is exercised in ascertaining the real use that the ammunition is to be put to,” states “Forest and Bird.” "Rabbits, which are farmed for their skins in some areas and abhored by the real sheep-farmer, are no doubt one of the most difficult problems with which the Department of Agriculture is called upon to deal. The Department of Internal Affairs issues permits for the purchase of .303 ammunition. “When the question of lessening the rabbit menace is looked squarely in the face it is difficult to see that tlie smallbore rifle can do anything but more harm than good, and it is, moreover, hard to visualize a busy farmer sneaking around his property endeavouring to snipe an odd rabbit or two, or paying anybody to do so. in these days of shortage of labour and when the call is for more and more production. An expert hunter who wishes to exterminate any undesirable creature will endeavour to prevent any molestation of hi s prey for a period in order that it may become less wary. A drastic organized* effort ii then suddenly made with the most destructive means available. Any spasmodic shooting of rabbits with .22 rifles can only be- inducive to increasing the wariness of the animal and its suspicion of everything savouring of man’s attempts to destroy it, including trapping and poison baits. Yet the pretext that .22 ammunition is to be used for rabbit shooting is evidently looked upon ns a valid reason for permission being granted when the real reason for the application is too often to secure small bore ammunition for illegal purposes.” In support of its con ten lions the paper quotes the case of a Huuterville farmer whojvas prosecuted by the police . and lined £7 and costs for shooting redbilled gulls at Para para urn u. These birds were shot from a stationary car with a .22 rifle. The sea birds on this beach are regularly fed by residents and visitors, and because of their confidence in mankind they fell an easy victim to the shooter. "The Department of Agriculture disowns issuing a permit to him to purchase .22 ammunition,” says the journal. “Where did he get it? Is there a black market?”