The insurmountable wall

11% of all voters (who bothered to vote) cast a vote for the Greens at the last (2011) General Election. Up from 5.3% in 2008. Whilst a whole bunch of them appear to have been ex Labour supporters disillusioned with Labour's crappy performance you can't ignore the fact that the Greens are growing.

The Green's conservation spokesperson, Eugenie Sage, is barking mad. She'd have us living in caves wearing leaves (fur requires mammalian species, and regrettably NZ in its original state lacked those. Bat skin g-string anyone?) in a flash. Her speech on the Game Animal Council Bill in Parliament demonstrates the Greens thinking that anything not born/bred/originating in NZ should be eliminated. Russel Norman, Green Party "Male Co-Leader" (kumbaya) is in trouble then. He's an Aussie. Watch out Russel, Eugenie's coming for you!

But seriously, what this means for hunters is that we face growing political and social opposition. It is unavoidable. The Green movement is an easy one to join. (If you feel bad about consuming too much milk from plastic bottles, you can vote Green and assuage your conscience). Green is an easy message to teach kids, especially in NZ which heralds a global image of being clean and... green. Many of the Greens supporters are urbanised, thus have little or no connection to grass roots rural NZ. It is not their fault that they've not had the opportunity to harvest a duck, pheasant or trout. By joining the green movement though, they perhaps feel a connection that they would not otherwise have?

It is the responsibility of all of of the hunting fraternity to stand up for our birth and legal right to hunt and fish. The NZ attitude of "she'll be right" will not serve us well going forward. At the F&G council meeting on Saturday, a chap of Australian extraction who has moved here to pursue outdoor sporting activities/a better lifestyle not available at home due to the banning of duck hunting and reduction of rights to own and bear firearms warned "Anti hunting is like a cancer. It builds slowly and in pockets. But when it forms a wall, you've lost. Don't let your rights be reduced as we did. The wall is insurmountable".