Decaying native birds have been dumped outside Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews' office for what rescuers believe will be the last time.
In keeping with a long-running annual tradition, the Coalition Against Duck Shooting on Tuesday laid out 73 recovered birds that were shot after the opening of the hunting season.
Among the birds were eight illegally shot protected and threatened species.
The demonstration outside Treasury Place has its origins in 1986, when Victorian politicians refused to join rescuers on the wetlands, with advocates instead bringing the birds to their doorstep.
In 2017, more than 1000 rotting carcasses were put on display, but numbers have fallen in recent years, with shortened seasons and fewer permitted shooters.
Campaign director Laurie Levy said no hunters turned up to Wednesday's duck season opening at a reserve near Donald, after the area used to attract more than 10,000 over the first weekend.
He has been campaigning against duck shooting for 38 years and is confident it will be outlawed after a parliamentary inquiry into its future.
"Duck shooting really is over. It's been a dying activity for a number of years," Mr Levy said while cradling a dead blue-wing shoveller recovered on the season's opening day.
"It's up to the ... parliamentary committee to put it to an end for good."
Wildlife Victoria chief executive Lisa Palma said most of the recovered birds had gunshot pellets in their bodies, forcing vets to euthanise those still alive.
"We have provided all of our veterinary evidence and X-ray material to the Game Management Authority (GMA) for further investigation," she said.
GMA officers watched the demonstration, waiting to collect the birds.
Animal Justice MP Georgie Purcell said one was a freckled duck, one of the rarest water birds in Australia, that was left for dead after being hit.
"These birds are just a small sample of the ones that would have been wounded or killed and left behind, which is an offence," she said.
"This is just from one area in the whole of Victoria. There are thousands of places where duck shooting can take place across the whole state, and the level of suffering is unimaginable."
Ms Purcell was among eight members of a parliamentary inquiry into duck shooting who visited a game reserve near Geelong last week to observe the opening of the shortened five-week season.
The committee has already received 1700 submissions and is due to publish its final report by August 31.
The premier declined to pre-empt the committee's findings and encouraged anybody with knowledge of wrongdoing to report it to the GMA, which he said already had significant resources to enforce the rules.
"I'm confident that the Game Management Authority will act," Mr Andrews said.
Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania are the only states where duck shooting is permitted, after Western Australia, NSW and Queensland banned the practice.
The GMA has been contacted for comment.
Australian Associated Press
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