GIVE THE DUCKS A CHANCE!

Forest and Bird, Issue 38, 1 November 1935, Page 14

GIVE THE DUCKS A CHANCE!

At last, the “baiting” of waterfowl and the use of live decoys by pitiless shootists has been prohibited in U.S.A. Treacherous “baiting” should be also forbidden in New Zealand, and there should be a ban on all kinds of decoys. The term “sport” cannot be fairly applied to a practice which lures useful, beautiful birds to death. The annual report of the Department of Internal Affairs (which administers the Animals Protection and Game Act) has the following statement: — “Concern is being expressed at the decrease in numbers of grey duck and the question of declaring periodical close seasons for these birds is to be considered shortly. It is evident that a policy of conservation of the grey duck has to be faced.” The plight of these birds and other waterfowl needs earnest attention before it is too late. There has been too much “facing of positions” and not nearly enough action. “Killing for Fun” is the heading of an editorial note in “Nature Magazine.” “Sportsmen attempt to deride genuine conservationists by calling them sentimentalists,” the writer states, “but there is no sentimentalism more maudlin than their own when they assert that they love what they kill. The lack of humour that permits them to make such remarks may be epitomised in the following toast: —

“The gamest bird I ever shot. The most toothsome morsel I ever ate. My friend! the bobwhite” (Virginian quail). “Man alone makes a practice of killing wantonly. With all the advantages his superior mental equipment has brought him he remains the most inexcusably savage of all living things. The form of savagery known as sport becomes intensified in proportion to the so-called civilisation attained. Civilisation, however, will never deserve its name until it realises and acts upon the principle that killing for fun is not a legitimate activity of a civilised being.”