Lawmen may ban decoy ducks in hunting
Thursday, August 23, 2001
Lawmakers in the US may ban motorised decoy ducks so the real things gets a better chance during hunts.

California's State Fish and Game Commission is to vote on whether to ban the devices which are causing duck populations to fall.

The battery-operated duck decoys with spinning wings draws birds within shooting range of hunters.

Opponents say the device guarantees 'slaughter' for the birds and is against the 'fair chance' ethic of hunting, reports the Contra Costa Times.

The local duck population has declined steadily since RoboDuk was introduced.

The commission will vote on whether to ban all "electronic or mechanically operated spinning blade or spinning wing decoys".

Moto-ducks fly in the face of fair play, says Arthur Feinstein, executive director of the Berkeley-based Golden Gate Audubon Society.

"We don't think hunting is wrong in the sense of hunting as a fair challenge to man and critter, with critters having at least a chance of not being caught," said Mr Feinstein. "When you load the deck so much the animals don't have any chance at all, then it's not hunting any more. That becomes slaughter."

Finlay Williams, a welding shop owner who invented RoboDuk in 1998, sold 400 in his first year. Last year he sold 18,000.

"Originally, the ducks just committed suicide on it," said Mr Williams. "Once they started showing up and they got shot a little bit, they learned."

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