General News
10 August, 2024
Hunt rules ‘forget non-shooters’
INTERESTS of non-hunters should be reflected in new Victorian regulations, according to Regional Victorians Opposed to Duck Shooting. Spokesperson Kerrie Allen said draft new Victorian hunting regulations had not considered 99 per cent of...
INTERESTS of non-hunters should be reflected in new Victorian regulations, according to Regional Victorians Opposed to Duck Shooting.
Spokesperson Kerrie Allen said draft new Victorian hunting regulations had not considered 99 per cent of Victorians. The group has opposed key recommendations in the draft with Ms Allen saying areas around Boort needed to be more valued. Ms Allen and RVOTDS have called for a winding back of public areas available for duck hunting.
“Currently hunting is permitted at so many thousands of public areas, the authorities can’t estimate the number of them, let alone monitor them,” RVOTDS said.
“This is an unacceptable risk to wildlife and people. There should be transparency of the number and location of hunting areas. The number of public hunting areas should be wound back to correlate with the fact less than one percent of the population hunt. This will ensure better compliance monitoring and respect for regional residents and other recreational users.
“There should be no hunting within at least 3km of residents (the distance shotgun noise is audible) or other recreational facilities such as walking tracks. Only areas which have had a safety risk assessment conducted, should be open to hunting.”
Ms Allen said draft regulations did not support the aim of providing effective management of game species or game hunting, “let alone safe, humane and sustainable hunting.”
Her group also says wetlands should be able to be closed to hunters for social/economic reasons. There was a temporary halt to shooting in Lake Boort this year until a colony of flying bats left the area.
The draft proposes an increased hunting licence fee, the duck season to last up to 90 days and non-hunters prohibited from specific areas before 11am.