Gone goat: Pests eradicated
A Canterbury conservation project has hit an historic high, achieving what is thought to be total eradication of feral goats from a 45,000-hectare area of Banks Peninsula.
More than 300 private landowners across tens of thousands of hectares, expert hunters, community conservation organisations, councils, government agencies and rūnanga have combined to potentially achieve New Zealand’s largest feral goat eradication.
“It all came together – we needed each part of the puzzle to work, and it did,” said Penny Carnaby, chairperson of the project’s lead group, the Banks Peninsula Conservation Trust.
Feral goats have been on Banks Peninsula since the late 1800s, about the same time they were recognised as a threat to native vegetation. Government control began in the 1930s after they were identified as a major pest, but numbers shot up in the 1980s when their commercial value plummeted, and farm escapees were no longer worth recovering.
The animals pose threats to biodiversity, conservation and farming They feed on seedlings, destabilise forest ecosystems, strip bark from trees, and prevent regeneration, while also competing for pasture, damaging fences and spreading disease among farm animals.
In 2003, in response to community pressure, the Feral Goat Eradication Committee was formed by the Banks Peninsula Conservation Trust with representation from Environment Canterbury (ECan), the Christchurch City Council and the Department of Conservation. Despite declaring the animals “on their last legs” on the peninsula in 2009, setbacks prompted a review of the programme in 2017 and identified the need for a more strategic approach. This led to the “re-energising of the committee new tactics, more expert hunters and a plan to sequentially eradicate the seven remaining goat populations.
The animals were added to ECan’s 2018 Canterbury Regional Pest Management Plan at a time when about 1000 were thought to be roaming the peninsula. The goal was to reduce the population by half within a decade. The programme surpassed that thanks to the highly engaged Banks Peninsula community, Carnaby said.
“It’s an extraordinary result for the community, the agencies and the rūnanga, who were very, very supportive.”
She said it was all the more impressive because of the relationship building and good will required to get the 316 land owners on board, as well as the stretches of remote and difficult terrain involved.
While ongoing monitoring would be required before the eradication could be confirmed with total certainty, the trust believed there had been no further evidence of feral goats on the “true peninsula” (east of Gebbies Pass) since August 2023.
The group believed the model would be useful as different corners of the country labour to reach the Predator Free 2050 goal.
“We’re all incredibly proud of what we’ve achieved.”