ERADICATION OF WALLABY

Press, Volume LXXXV, Issue 25738, 25 February 1949, Page 9

ERADICATION OF WALLABY

OPINION OF DR. MURIE From Our Own Reporter TIMARU, February 24. The eradication of the wallaby in the Hunter Hills district, South Canterbury, should be a national responsibility, according to Dr. O. J. Murie, president of the American Wilderness Society. Yesterday and tb-day, Dr. Murie and his son. with two officers of the wild life control branch of the Department of Internal Affairs, and Mr C. J. Kerr, pastoral liaison officer of the South Canterbury Catchment Board, studied the wallaby at Kelcy’s Bush, near Waimate. It was the first time that Dr. Murie had seen a wallaby. he said. • The party shot a few of th? animals, skinned them, examined their stomach contents, observed their habits, ancktook numerous photographs. As a result of his discussions with Dr. Murie. Mr Kerr said he hoped to call a meeting of all runholders in the Hunter Hills district to discover if they wished Department of Internal Affairs to carry out a further campaign against wallabies. After campaigns during the last twfc years, the department advised the Catchment Board that it had decided to refrain from sending organised shooting parties into the Hunter Hills to destroy wallabies, since it considered that the animal could now be controlled by local efforts.