Controversial tahr cull on
A second attempt to start a controversial cull of Himalayan tahr has been confirmed.
The Department of Conservation had planned to begin the cull of 10,000 tahr in October last year but it was put on hold on the first day following the helicopter deaths of DOC biodiversity ranger Scott Theobald, 59, DOC senior ranger Paul Hondelink, 63, and pilot Nick Wallis, 38, who were heading out on the cull.
The cull will now start this week, depending on the weather.
DOC estimates there are more than 35,000 tahr on conservation land and its director of community engagement, Dr Ben Reddiex, said the organisation would continue working with the hunting community to reduce tahr on conservation land.
‘‘There are reports of numerous tahr herds foraging through tall tussock and other native alpine plants,’’ Reddiex said. ‘‘Urgent action is needed. It is important we stop the population migrating further than the current feral range.’’
However, Forest and Bird’s lawyer Peter Anderson was concerned with plans to ‘‘leave bull tahr behind and simply tell hunters where they are’’.
‘‘This is a problem in areas where zero density is required, such as Aoraki/Mount Cook and Westland Tai Poutini National Parks,’’ he said. ‘‘We’ve got vast herds of tahr up there doing enormous damage to alpine plants . . . in national parks, it’s not lawful to leave behind large numbers of trophy animals which hunters may or may not kill.’’
Anderson said it was ‘‘actually illegal’’ to aim for anything less than zero density of tahr in national parks.
DOC has been working with organisations such as the New Zealand Deerstalkers Association to ensure that hunting and recreational organisations could be involved in the cull. This included leaving bulls in the seven tahr management units for hunters to hunt.
NZDA immediate past president Bill O’Leary said he was pleased with DOC’s co-operation.
‘‘Ideally, we’re all on the same page here. It’s good that it’s starting, we were worried if they left it for too long we could’ve lost the opportunity to get them during the breeding season,’’ O’Leary said.
‘‘There’s been a whole lot of discussion going on. DOC has the role of managing the population, but we believe we can assist.’’
O’Leary said it was good that aerially assisted trophy-hunting offsets (where trophy-hunting businesses shoot an additional number of female and juvenile tahr based on how many male tahr clients remove) would contribute to the count for control purposes. ‘‘It gives the commercial operators the chance to be involved. I¯ think if everybody works to what was agreed then 10,000 tahr is an achievable target.’’
Reddiex said about $1 million had been allocated for Himalayan tahr control and research into tahr abundance and its impacts on the environment until August.
‘‘There is no plan to eradicate tahr, however we need to ensure that NZ alpine ecosystems are protected from the growing tahr population.’’