A “crow and magpie shoot” event that’s been the subject of numerous complaints to the province is legal and can go ahead as planned, Natural Resources Minister Ian Bushie told reporters Wednesday.
The event, scheduled for Saturday, is hosted by the Woodlands & District Wildlife Association, a club in the Interlake. A poster advertising the shoot states teams of two can register for $50, and the event will be followed with a barbeque dinner. The poster also says prizes will be given to the top two teams.
It’s not the first time the association has hosted a crow and magpie shoot, president Darrell Hueging told Global News, but it is the first time the event has received pushback. Hueging says he has received “a lot of hate” in the form of phone calls and social media comments.
“I’ve had some conversations with some people that just didn’t have an understanding to what this event was about,” Hueging said. “It reached… different crowds and different people, and it’s just kind of blown up from there.”
Hueging says the event’s purpose is to control the crow and magpie population for area farmers, while getting community members together.
“They both are a threat (to) livestock, especially now during the springtime when newborn calves are being born and are the most vulnerable… pecking at soft tissues, and sometimes, they’re sometimes life-threatening injuries,” he said.
Hueging says only a “handful” of birds will be harvested over the course of the day. He adds it’s not a “sport shooting” event, but Brittany Semeniuk with animal law advocacy organization Animal Justice disagrees.
“Essentially, it’s a killing contest where participants are encouraged to hunt and kill as many crows and magpies within a specific area as many as they can,” she said.
“It is a killing contest and nothing more.”
Animal Justice penned a letter to Manitoba’s Chief Veterinary Officer decrying the event, saying it violates the province’s Animal Care Act by causing the animals serious injury or harm.
The province has received a number of other correspondences about the event, Minister Bushie said.
“It is done on private property, and the crows and magpies are not protected,” he said.
Crows and magpies belong to the corvid family, a group of highly-intelligent birds that are able to use tools. Ravens also belong to this group, but unlike crows and magpies, they are protected under the province’s Wildlife Act.
Minister Bushie’s office advised Global News shooting birds is not an effective method of pest control, but the association’s event is legal.
“I come from a community that’s hunters, for example, and we would not do it this way,” Bushie said, “but to each his own when it comes time to this. They’re not violating or breaking the law in any capacity.”
He added conservation officers have been advised of the shoot and will be in the area on Saturday.
Winnipeg animal advocacy group Project Artemis told Global News it intends to hold a protest near the property’s entrance on Friday night when registration opens.
This article by Iris Dyck was first published by Global News on 9 April 2025. Lead Image: Carrion Crow (Corvus corone). Ernie Janes/Alamy Stock Photo.
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