With a love of the bush and a penchant for the social/economic factors influencing it, Kerrie Allen is spokesperson for conservation group Regional Victorians Opposed to Duck Shooting Inc (RVOTDS), an organisation committed to protecting waterbirds and waterways.
At thirty minutes past sunset on Monday 8 June, duck hunting season in Victoria officially came to a close. For Victoria’s native birds, this comes as a much-needed reprieve – I say native birds plural because it wasn’t just ducks that were part of the hunt.
The H5N1 flu strain poses an existential threat to Australian agriculture and wildlife – many species already classed as threatened. Governments need to act quickly to reduce the risks of H5N1 to agriculture and the environment. One of those risks is Victoria and South Australia’s “recreational” shooting of native quail.
At 8am, 18th of March, Victoria entered its duck hunting season for 2026. That’s right, until thirty minutes after sunset on 8 June, native waterbirds can be shot for “sport” across 3.5 million hectares of public land in Victoria.
