“ Shooting to Save ”

Manawatu Times, Volume 64, Issue 307, 29 December 1939, Page 8

“ Shooting to Save ”

ACCLIMATISATION SOCIETY’S ARGUMENT Leading members of the Forest and Bird Protection Society are strongly opj posed to the argument of Dr. G. F. Anson, chairman of the Wellington Acclimatisation Society, that it is ‘‘better for the ducks to have a short or fortnight’s season thau a closed sea- “ Surely that is the queerest kind of claim ever made for the protection of game birds,” states one of the critics. ‘‘According to Dr. Anson, it is a case of shooting to save. The doctor’s pronouncement is so emphatic that he almost leaves a reader to assumo that he has consulted the ducks and has been assured by them that they would prefer the thrills of the shooting to the peace and quietness of a closed season. ‘ ‘ Because Hon. W. E. Parry, Minister of Internal Affairs, has had the courage to take necessary action to help

the birds to increase he is denounced as a ‘Hitler’ and he is threatened with the wrath of acclimatisation societies. In Dr. Anson’s words, ‘it is time he was told where he gets off.’ “Well, it is the earnest hope of many thousands of New Zealanders that the Minister will decline firmly to get off tho right course which ho has wisely chosen and that he will continue to get on with his duty of administering tho Animals Protection and Game Act on behalf of the general public and not sections of it. He has explained clearly that he wishes to assure supplies of game birds for the future, but efforts are being made persistently to swerve him from his purpose. The action which he is taking now is one that preceding heads of his Department should have taken long ago.”