Pheasants shot dead, hobby huntress laughs in station manager's face

It is already widely known that so-called small game hunting with lead shot targeting factory-farmed released pheasants attracts only people with peculiar inclinations.

Yet what took place in Bruderndorf, Lower Austria, next to the local wildlife rescue station shows that it is not merely about the pleasure of inflicting suffering on animals, but that those involved are people so incapable of empathy that they can only humiliate and mock other people who do possess it.

Recreational hunting directly adjacent to a wildlife rescue station

The wildlife rescue station of Animal Help Austria is officially licensed by the state of Lower Austria. For 20 years, injured wild animals have been cared for and in some cases released back into the wild on 3’000 m² of grounds – including ducks and 8 pheasants. Suddenly, a hunting party arrived and fired at pheasants in the immediate vicinity of the wildlife rescue station and other residential buildings, killing several of the animals in care. This contravenes § 96 of the Lower Austrian Hunting Act, which prohibits shooting “in the immediate vicinity of individual residential buildings.” The VGT has therefore filed a complaint regarding the incident.

The station manager also reports that a hobby huntress leaned directly against her fence and laughed in her face when she objected to the recreational hunting. After the hunt, only one of the 8 pheasants that had just been released into the wild was still alive – now calling out forlornly for its companions. These 8 pheasants had been spending their nights in the trees on the station's grounds in the period before the hunt, venturing further afield during the day. This ultimately proved fatal for them.

I was recently at one such Driven hunt on released pheasants from factory farming by the Liechtenstein Forestry Administration in the Weinviertel region of Lower Austria. I am therefore very familiar with the mentality of these people. They have absolutely no understanding whatsoever for love of nature, love of animals, and the protection and care of injured wildlife. The fact that they simply mock compassionate people is exactly the character trait to be expected. Reasonable people do not engage in this kind of hunting; everyone else must be prohibited from doing so! – Martin Balluch

Citizens’ Initiative for a Federal Hunting Law

The citizens’ initiative «For a Federal Hunting Law» is still collecting declarations of support until the end of the year in order to take place in 2025. It demands an end to hobby hunting with lead ammunition and that only those animal species may be hunted where this is necessary for ecological reasons. Pheasants are released in large numbers in Lower Austria, and shooting them is anything but necessary. In the neighbouring Burgenland region, releasing them is prohibited. A nationwide regulation is therefore essential.