Adult short-tailed shearwaters, or ‘muttonbirds’, fly halfway around the globe to hatch and raise a single chick each year in colonies across southern Australia, returning to the same sandy burrow every spring. It’s an arduous, exhausting journey — but, sadly, even if they survive the trip, their home isn’t a safe haven.
Once the adults leave again in April for their feeding grounds in Alaska and Russia, their vulnerable chicks — still covered in fluffy down — become targets for government-sanctioned ‘recreational’ killing on coastal islands of Tasmania. These defenceless babies are pulled from their nests, their necks twisted and broken. They will never follow their parents north.
Muttonbirds are protected by an international treaty and are protected by all Australian states except Tasmania. Despite the Tasmanian Government describing these birds as ‘one of the world’s most amazing migratory birds’, they permit thousands of chicks to be killed each year for meat and oil (in recreational and commercial seasons).
Recreational ‘harvesters’ are allowed to kill 25 birds per day, which means that a single licensed person can kill up to 400 chicks during the 16-day killing season. To make matters worse, no training or experience is required in killing the birds quickly and with a minimum of pain. It is highly likely that many birds suffer prolonged and painful deaths.