From the desk of Roland Rocchiccioli

THE Victorian duck shooting season bears no likeness to the annual shooting parties held on country piles across the United Kingdom. Both versions are barbaric, but the comparison is too damn preposterous for words; absolutely risible!

UK’s grouse shooting season runs from the Glorious 12th August to December 10. It is strictly traditional. Any breaches of established protocols are viewed derisively. A serious violation could see a gun sent back to the house — in disgrace. In order to bag, the doomed birds are frightened from their hiding places by beaters and sent towards the guns. The tweed-suited shooting-party bring down the grouse, pheasant, or partridge, which are retrieved by gun dogs.

The romantic novelist, the late Dame Barbara Cartland, had a small shoot at Camfield Place, Hatfield, Hertfordshire. For invitees it was a ritual event. Lunch – usually at about 3 o’clock, was served in a barn or stable. Serious guns do not stop for lunch — they make do with a sandwich, or a cold pork pie. Dame Barbara favoured the classic Russian coulibiac — sturgeon/salmon cooked in puff pastry with mushrooms, risotto rice, and boiled eggs, and served with a dill and lemon sauce. In Tuscan tradition, Stilton cheese was eaten with Old Basing fruitcake; vodka and tomato juice, damson gin, or whisky. There were no Eskys or tinnies proliferating; no swigging from bottles of bourbon!

In Edwardian Britain, hunting, shooting, and fishing house parties lasted two- or three-days, mostly Saturday to Monday — a ‘weekend’ party might imply guests held employment obligations during the week. At a Sandringham shoot, King Edward VII and guests killed 1300-birds in a single day. Ultimately, some were hung and eaten; the excess went to market. Estates were bought and sold on pheasant or trout availability, and not on income derived from farming or cattle.

Duck hunting is banned in the ACT, NSW, QLD and WA. Categorically, in every single aspect, what happens on the waterways in Victoria is diametrically inconsistent to shoots in the UK. ‘Bloodsport’ is only the commonality. While most serious shooters are said to abide by the rules, renegade cowboys dressed in camouflage, quaffing from cans and bottles of Bundaberg rum, with double-barrelled shots gun slung over their shoulders, and blasting from the sky everything which flies across their aerial path, is not recreational sport. It is animal cruelty.

A 2023 parliamentary inquiry recommended a duck shooting ban. Surveys have shown 87-percent favour abolishment; however, the government, fearful of the harsh, voter, ballot box consequences, has elected to ignore the voice of the majority and the wildlife massacre continues. The 2019-2020 bushfires burned more than 19-million hectares and impacted 3-billion animals, pushing many species and ecosystems closer to extinction. The balance is fragile. Homo sapiens are not the most important component in the ecological chain. Consider: we are dependent on bees to sustain our food chain. Australia’s list of vulnerable species and ecosystems continues to grow. Our environmental reputation is shameful. Since 1788, Australia has the world’s worst mammal extinction rate, including third-word countries. The east coast koala and greater gliders are being pushed to the brink. It must stop.

Duck shooting is cruel. REFLECT: Is it a sport? Do we need it?

Roland is heard with Brett Macdonald — radio 3BA Monday at 10.45 a.m. Contact: [email protected]