Tasmanians bedevil muttonbirds

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 2006:

The Atlantic Canada seal hunt started on the same day in 2006
as the annual muttonbird hunt in Tasmania, a similar event, with a
2006 quota of 300,000, not counting the toll taken by indigenous
Tasmanians.
“It’s horrific,” Against Animal Cruelty Tasmania
spokesperson Suzanne Cass told Tim Jeanes of the Australian
Broadcasting Corporation. “The chick is hauled out of the burrow
either by hand or with a sharp hook. The bird’s neck is broken. It
could take any length of time, with people swinging them around
their heads and throwing them. These birds travel 30,000 kilometres
round-trip each year, and there are 209 breeding colonies around
Tasmania and the islands,” Cass added. “Often they’re not killed
for eating–just recreation.”
Responded Tasmanian West Coast Mayor Darryl Gerrity, “We
don’t have a lot of things to do on the west coast, so we look
forward to the muttonbirds season.”