Protesters oppose dairy expansion
Police yesterday arrested 12 protesters demonstrating against a large dairy farm development in the Mackenzie Country.
Sergeant Mike van der Heyden, of Temuka, said the protesters were asked to leave the property but refused.
One of the protesters refused to walk from the property and had to be dragged away by police.
Police used bolt cutters and a portable disc grinder to cut the protesters free from the machinery they were chained to since early yesterday morning.
A police spokeswoman said the protesters were taken to the Timaru police station and charges were likely to be laid.
Acting Mid-South Canterbury police area commander Inspector Natasha Rodley said officers tried to negotiate with the protesters.
The Simons Pass property, just south of Lake Pukaki, is said to be the home of a variety of native flora and fauna, including the endangered black stilt (native kakı¯), of which there are only about 100 left.
Greenpeace sustainable agriculture campaigner Gen Toop said ‘‘for the sake of the Mackenzie and our rivers, industrial dairy expansion has to stop’’.
However, the land’s Crown leaseholder, Murray Valentine, said 40 per cent of the land on the proposed dairy farm was being set aside for conservation.
Valentine said they were at the end of a process which started in 2004. ‘‘We’ve seen a lot of legal hearings and all sorts of things that have gone on – all public – to get to where we’ve got to.
‘‘If the protest delays it for six months that would be quite serious but my understanding is it’s very cold up where they are.
‘‘I hope that it doesn’t last too long. We are setting aside, in our plan, almost 4000 hectares of our 9500 hectares – that’s 40 per cent – which has been set aside for conservation. We’re not going to farm it.’’
Valentine said the land had been set aside through an agreement reached with groups opposing the farm. ‘‘We’ve come to that agreement. Greenpeace have just sent people down to tie themselves to vehicles.’’
Greenpeace said its protesters locked themselves on to diggers and other machinery yesterday morning, disrupting construction of an irrigation pipeline for the proposed farm.
‘‘The dairy industry has polluted our rivers and our climate for far too long,’’ Toop said.
‘‘This latest incursion into the iconic Mackenzie Country shows just how extreme the industry has become.
‘‘The Mackenzie is a fragile wilderness, home to critically endangered native species, worldrenowned landscapes, and bright blue glacial lakes. It’s simply not suitable for dairy farming.
‘‘This new mega farm is a shameful example of how the rules to protect our rivers and our environment from industrial dairying are failing.’’
Toop said the Government could protect the Mackenzie by banning new dairy conversions.
Greenpeace says nearly 30,000 people have signed a petition to ban new dairy conversions.
‘‘To take the strain off our rivers and our climate we need to have fewer cows and [be] producing higher value dairy products.’’
Mackenzie mayor Graham Smith said there had been immense pressure to stop the development.