An experienced Trentham wildlife rescuer has been threatened with arrest by Game Management Authority officials and has had his game licence suspended as he attempted to report a duck hunter breaking the law at Lake Leaghur near Kerang.
Manfred Zabinskas OAM from the Five Freedoms Animal Rescue watched a shooter blast a duck from the sky, but instead of going to retrieve it as the law requires, the hunter just kept shooting.
After Zabinskas complained, authorities at the scene then approached him and asked about the small fishing net he used to retrieve injured birds. The officials informed him hunters were prohibited from carrying nets on to the wetlands and threatened him with arrest when he refused to hand it over.
“It was bizarre,” he said. “Fishing nets are exempt from the legislation and despite the bleeding obvious – I was wearing wildlife rescue gear and not carrying a gun – they said ‘we don’t acknowledge you’re not a hunter’.
“It became clear pretty quickly they were actually after me, not the guy doing the illegal killing. Because I had on a high viz vest with ‘wildlife rescuer’ all over it.
“And as they were monstering me for having a net and trying to save lives, blokes with guns were blasting small birds out of the sky and watching them die as they crashed to the ground.”
Manfred says birds started to be shot and spiral out of the sky before the duck hunting season started at 8am last Wednesday and by 9.30am there was not a bird left to kill.
“It’s a barbaric blood sport,” he said. “It’s a warzone out there. Blown off heads and broken bodies. Victorians have told Jacinta Allan time and again they want it banned but each year these butchers with guns front up to murder hundreds of thousands of ducks and waterbirds.
“The repeated breaches by shooters are glossed over, but the GMA make it their business to harass humanitarian and compassionate volunteers who come to help dying and distressed birds.
“The suspension of my game licence means I’m out of the way and they are free to kill. The perversity of this system is that it rewards cruelty and harasses those who try to stop it.”
The Game Management Authority has issued a statement, which says: “an individual, although holding a Game Licence, has been issued with an infringement for not hunting ducks in according with the Wildlife Game Regulations 2024 – as they were using equipment that is not permitted.
“Anyone entering specified hunting areas without authorisation may face fines up to $12,211, receive a Banning Notice or be prosecuted.”
The duck hunting season runs until June 8.
