The Victorian Duck Season

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Comparative Essay about ducks Another year, another duck season. A few weeks ago, the 2012 Victorian Duck Season began which means that Victorians can shoot ducks in specific areas between the 17th of March and 11th of June. The opening of this season re-sparked a debate between the hunters and the greenies about whether duck shooting in Victoria should be banned or not. In Bill Patterson’s Letter to the Editor, he contends that Duck Shooting should not be banned and protesters are mixing up animal rights with conservation. In Patterson’s opening paragraph, he uses statistics to show the reader that there is a pretty large number of duck hunters in Victoria. In his first paragraph, he uses an alliteration to start to reel the reader…show more content…
Patterson continues his letter using formal language, stating that access to hunting and fishing is often limited by the states administration where no one department is held accountable for these activities and policies and administration continue to frustrate enthusiasts. This makes Patterson’s writing style sound sophisticated and authoritative and can lend weight to his side of the argument. In Pattersons next paragraph, he talks about how fisheries and game management fall under the Primary Industry, the States Wildlife and Environment and Sustainability and how the access to hunting and wetlands is under the jurisdiction of Parks, Victoria and this is an Appeal to Environmentalism which could trigger an emotional response towards the reader and evoke different types of feelings. In Patterson’s next paragraph, he uses facts stating that the annual direct expenditure of duck hunters is estimated by the government to be 40 million dollars and the indirect expenditure is estimated to be millions more. This technique…show more content…
Levy starts off his letter stating that this is the first year that the Department of Primary Industries, under a national party, the Minister of Agriculture will be in charge of the Victorian Duck Shooting Season. He uses an appeal to Group Loyalty and Environmentalism which again triggers an emotional response from the reader towards ducks. He continues on to his second paragraph where he uses adjectives to give his argument more detail and persuade the reader in his side. He uses another appeal to environmentalism to give the effect of an emotional pull in his favour. As Levy continues on, he states that last year a rescuer was shot in the face which is the first time a rescuer has been shot in the 25 year campaign and lucky to not have lost her sight. Levy uses exaggeration here which creates dramatic effect, and paints an image in the readers mind. It also shows an appeal to fear. He then states that all rescuers will be wearing eye protection this year and this gives the reader the impression that duck shooters are violent, which would be a stereotype. He continues on stating that out of duck season, the police come down on anyone harming native ducks but shooters are exempt from prosecution for acts of ‘extreme cruelty’ Once again he uses an exaggeration and an appeal to justice to touch the readers emotions and feel sadness

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