We are in a sorry state when our ability to legally hunt duck and quail, and to dock the tails of our hunting dogs so that they do not sustain tail damage is totally compromised by the whims of politicians and the amateurism of the various organisations that we pay annual fees to.

This is a reality in Australia in 2003 and if you are in a minority pursuit, like upland gamebird shooting, these politicians and the powerful animal liberation lobby that is wielding its growing power globally, will apply more restrictions in the future.

Let me make some things clear. I am a new Australian and I think this is the best country in the world. This country can do things in sport and other endeavours that belie our relatively small population.
I think my hunting is world-class especially on our native quail with our pointing breeds.

However we are losing out in our endeavours because each year it gets more difficult to operate without being impacted by antis.

Duck and quail shooting (legally) have been banned in Western Australia for quite some years now.
New South Wales has had a duck and quail ban for many years now. The farce is that under pest mitigation licences, more ducks are shot now in NSW than before the bans. The difference is that under pest mitigation you must leave the shot carcase on the ground and cannot take them home to share with your family and friends.

Field trials for our continental gundog breeds were allowed in that State through some ‘mateship deal’, which when exposed by an official request by another party, means it is now all banned.
NSW now has Game Council to provide effective management of introduced species of game animals and to promote responsible and orderly hunting of those game animals on public and private land. This sounds great but apart from pigs and other feral animals I do not understand what they will do. THEY HAVE NO JURISDICTION OVER DUCK AND QUAIL SHOOTING, WHICH WILL REMAIN BANNED INTO THE FUTURE.

There is virtually no game management in this country and feral pest species are wiping out our biodiversity without any governmental input.

So what about tail-docking? I had a hunting French-bred beagle many years ago. When Chameleon hit the scrub his tail would go so hard that he would come out of the bush red, raw and bleeding profusely. It took ages to heal and was a real handicap for the dog.

When I was introduced to GSP's I asked why the tail was docked since the breed was formed. I was told it was to prevent damage and I thought that was sensible because of what I had seen myself. Later when my Kim had a litter of puppies I learnt that a few seconds of discomfort was what a pup had to endure for a lifetime free of tail injury. It seemed a sensible compromise to me. How many circumcised males remember the operation?

So over the years as animal liberation groups have spawned the tail-docking debate, I have been comfortable with the practice because of personal experience.

Primary Industries Ministers from all states except NSW and the Northern territory have voted in favour of a tail-docking ban by December 2003. They call it a cosmetic tail-docking ban but of course that is to remove any functional reason for the practice. I haven’t heard if this includes dewclaw removal.

The ban is to be policed by RSPCA, Animal Welfare and Primary Industries Inspectors, some of whom have unbelievable powers of entry to private property.

So what did the Canine Control organisations around Australia do about this impending ban? Did they use the combined ‘political’ power of tens of thousands of registered dog owners? Did they combine and hire professional lobby help with the high fees that I pay annually for paltry services? No, they trusted the pollies who said, “she’ll be right”, but by the time they woke up, the deal was done and the horse had bolted forever.

The same is true for the hunting/shooting groups that I am a member of. Did they combine their efforts to fight the good fight? No, the clay target shooters are only interested in their guns and not the game that the guns were developed to harvest.

There were only 52 quail licenses issued in Queensland last year. Do you think that gives us any power? I suspect that the hunting of duck and quail legally in Queensland where I live will be under huge pressure to survive, it has been under pressure for the last decade.

Why is this happening in a country that prides itself as being near to the land? It’s because we actually cannot live away from the city and the coast. The person who shoots ducks here is seen as an odd-bod , an anachronism and outside the mainstream.

My children all joined RSPCA because of their love of animals. I wish they hadn’t. I see that organisation totally hypocritical now and as a front for animal liberation. I believe that animal liberation (vegetarian-vegan) groups in USA are funding and infiltrating these kinds of organisations in Australia. They have failed in UK, Europe and USA to ban the traditional rights of hunting and shooting so they have strategically targeted Australia as the country in the Western world where they will get their way because we are laid back and complacent about traditional rights in our race to get to the coast and sun and our “she’ll be right” attitudes.

Australian kids increasingly think that milk and beef comes from supermarkets and not from cows. Our teachers seem to encourage the animal welfare paradigm and talk against or are ignorant of the balanced approach to sustainable harvesting of game species that has proven to help other wildlife species.

I have three daughters and all eat game, but do not hunt. I consoled myself somewhat that since I did not have sons, the loss of game seasons would not matter. But I was wrong because as my first daughter moves towards her upcoming wedding, I realise there might be a grandson or two to take to the paddock in the future. Will it be me and the boys (or girls) with a GSP up front with a weak kink in its undocked tail, awaiting injury, and probably surgical intervention (caused by lack of tail selection for more than 100 years), will it be shooting quail according to a bag limit and season determined by objective game management? I’m not sure.

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Updated 2nd June 2003