Animal activists. We can stop them.
With a state election looming, the threat of animal activists to the future of hunting in our state, should not be understated.
Animal welfare activism
Even if you have no interest in hunting, animal activists are playing the political game, and proving to be effective.
The aim of animal activist campaigns – be it by Animals Australia, PETA or Animal Liberation – is to generate funding for their organisations, and stop all forms of hunting.
The consequences of this would be significant. It would lead to the disbanding of wetlands established by hunters, leading to more weeds, pests and loss of habitat.
It would see the community lose important environmental public assets. It would kill jobs in many regional areas and importantly, do nothing to improve animal welfare or conservation.
A wolf in sheep’s clothing
In Animal Welfare: Beware the wolf in sheep’s clothing, author Robert Herrmann drew attention to the Victorian Government’s recent release of Victoria’s first ever “Animal Welfare Action Plan”.
He explains the intention of the plan is to recognise “the sentience of animals, reflecting strong evidence that animals experience sensations such as pleasure, comfort, fear and pain”.
That’s not about animal welfare but putting an end to things we currently take for granted – hunting, fishing and logging.
Importantly, the action plan commits the government to ‘reviewing codes of practice relating to hunting’. You can guess what that means.
The government has also established a new body called Animal Welfare Victoria. The stated intention of the body is to bring together all aspects of domestic animal and animal welfare research, policy, education and compliance.
While there are positive aspects into genuine animal welfare, many of you will know the animal welfare agenda we are seeing at a political level is run by zealots who simply want to shut hunting down, rather than do something positive for the environment.
The fight to end hunting is on
If you are a hunter and think that the future of duck, deer and other forms of hunting will be safe after this year’s Victorian state election, then you only need to have one look at the the Animal Justice Party’s website to see what it will push for. It’s first policy on native birds is “to immediately ban duck and quail shooting.”
The Greens have the same policy – plus an extensive page and petition on their website dedicated to achieving that outcome.
You don’t have to be Einstein to see what could happen to hunting if either or both parties end up with the ‘balance of power’. That’s why they have to be stopped.
How we can work together on this
The CFCV will be leading the fight to make sure that whatever government we get, that it supports the shooting sports, and will leave hunting alone.
To do that, we’ll be running an election campaign to support candidates who support sports like hunting, and end the careers of those who do not. This will include the release of “How To Vote” information for Victorian shooters like yourself, and your family and friends, in key seats.
We’ll also help you through the voting process including how to update your electoral details if you have moved, where you can ‘vote early’, and understanding which ballot paper is which (one for the upper house and one for the lower house) and how to complete them.
If this sounds good, then click here to join our email list to get updates as we head towards the election. You can opt out at anytime.
You can also donate to our election fighting fund via GoFund me by clicking here, or via Paypal by clicking here. That way you can contribute directly to the shooting industry’s campaign – all for the price of just one box of ammo! (… and a huge thank you to the many supporters who have already donated!)
A note to pro-shooting parties
Our message to pro-shooting parties contesting this year’s election is to put the Animal Justice Party and Greens last wherever you are providing How-To-Vote information.
Any other allocation of preferences will work against the interests of Victorian shooters.