Dear Central South Island Fish and Game Council,

Given your bag limits this season appear to be 50 combined mallard/grey/Shoveler, plus up to 25 Parries, plus the bag limits for any other birds, what statistics do you have on the following:

1. How many of the birds shot are harvested for food and eaten as food (given the average kiwi freezer would not hold even a quarter of one days bag limit)?

2.What do you advise shooters to do if they shoot close to the bag limit per person on multiple days and end up with significantly more dead birds than they can possibly freeze or give to friends?

3. What statistics/studies carried out/other reliable evidence do you have on what percentages of birds shot are used as food (and for those birds what percentage of the carcass) and what is done with the remainder?

4. What statistics or information do you have, or have you attempted to collect to track how excess shot birds are disposed of?

5. What evidence do you have from your own research to prove that excess shot birds are not being disposed of in ways which may result in a hazard to the environment, and other wildlife, or to other people? (Ie Botulism)

6. What benefits (to the environment, to yourselves, to hunters and to society in general) do you see in allowing hunters to shoot far more birds than they can possibly eat, store, or even share with friends?

7. What studies have you conducted or referred to when considering the effect of steel shot on birds which are injured but not killed or retrieved? Please answer with regard to the following:

a How steel shot breaks down when remaining in the birds tissue and the evidence of
b. inflammation
c. pain
d. suffering
e. survival rates
f. Percentage of birds which may survive and recover from the initial injury but be unable to fly, or walk as a result, and what the survival rates, time frames and outcomes are for those birds?
g. What percentage of shot, but not killed or retrieved, birds are being left with shot lodged in tissue and where in the tissue this is likely to be?

8. Where you are not able to provide specific studies and reference specific findings in those studies to answer the above questions, please explain how you determine bag limits with regards to the considerations above if you have no proper evidence to use in your decision?

9. What is the relationship between the NZ Wildlife Act, and any other NZ legislation which relates to game bird hunting, and the NZ Animal welfare act. Specifically, I would like to understand your position where the game bird hunting legislation might allow activities which would normally breach the animal welfare act? Is there any requirement for game bird hunting to meet the requirements of the animal welfare act in NZ, and if not, what is the reason for this (both legal reasons/legal exclusions, and moral/ethical reasons).

Yours faithfully,

Ms Hartley