Saving the high country

Press, 22 July 1976, Page 16

Saving the high country

The Deerstalkers’ Association is so determined to ensure the survival of some thar herds in the South Island high country that it has decided to supplement its local. South Canterbury campaign to “ save the thar ” by a national campaign. The people against whom the campaign is directed —a host of Government bodies and numerous individual conservationists—are equally determined to save the high country rather than the thar, and to save the lowlands which will suffer if efforts to check erosion in the mountains are not continued.

At times, private New Zealand hunters have been at odds with those running hunting safaris for overseas tourists and with those who shoot noxious animals for meat. AU these groups are likely to unite in an effort to get the Government to abandon its efforts to eliminate thar from the Southern Alps. But unless they can rebut the arguments of those who insist that thar are the most serious scourge of the high country, many of their own arguments for not pursuing the thar to destruction carry little weight.

For the few who come from overseas to hunt in New Zealand, many thousands more come to view and photograph the high-country scenery which the thar may be threatening. Those who argue that the earnings from exporting

game meat justify maintaining wild herds of noxious animals neglect to count the cost of possible loss of farm production as a result of erosion.

But the deerstalkers deserve to be heeded when they question whether enough is known about thar in New Zealand and their impact on the high country for it to be stated confidently that control of the number of thar at a level which would allow recreational hunting to continue is not a reasonable alternative to extermination. Thar favour areas which are peculiarly vulnerable to erosion, their grazing habits are destructive and there is a constant danger of animals spreading into highly critical areas. But there may be areas which could support small, managed herds of thar without damage to the land.

Instead of whipping up public feeling with a petition, the Deerstalkers’ Association would be better advised to sponsor and pursue studies on the numbers, distribution and grazing patterns of thar in order to establish conclusively whether thar are the most serious threat to the South Island’s mountain lands. Those who are anxious to “ save the than ” must refute the charges brought against the animal by botanists and conservationists before the Government should heed any call to save even small numbers of thar for recreational shooters.