Dear editor,
Duck hunters are back in Baynes Sound and leaving their plastic wads behind to add to the plastic contamination in the marine environment that produces half of all shellfish grown in B.C.
It’s hard to imagine what possesses these grown men to seek out small birds to blast away at. Is it the “thrill of the kill,” or a sadistic urge to injure and destroy small creatures that they just can’t overcome?
As a long-time resident of the Baynes Sound area, I can attest to the fact that the numbers of transient and resident ducks has severely declined. Yet every year after the Christmas holidays the hunters return, leaving destruction in their wake. The shellfish industry boasts about the “pristine” waters of this area, yet they along with BC Ferries and now duck hunters just keep adding more and more toxic plastics into an already taxed marine ecosystem.
All of them could choose alternatives or make changes to reduce their harmful practices, and duck hunters especially can choose not to end the lives of small, gentle creatures, but find a different outlet for their pleasure-seeking.
Edina Johnston,
Denman Island