P.M. asked to intervene to save Arapawa goats

Press, 11 April 1978, Page 3

P.M. asked to intervene to save Arapawa goats

Minister (Mr Muldoon) has been asked to , ™ e ]’yene to save the Old English goat herd on AraIsland from extermination.

M °.u S the deCisiOn Marit M^ r,t J° ro ugh Sounds Maritime Park Board to cull ,. Roat , s from its reserves on the island.

wildlife campaigner, Mrs Betty Rowe, of AraPawa Island, who has led the battle to save the goats, yesterday morning sent a telegram to Mr Muldoon asking for his intervention, according to a Press Association message from Blenheim.

The goats are descendants of ones put on Arapawa Island by Captain Cook in

“We heard the board’s decision with disbelief,” Mrs Rowe said. “It is a sad commentary on our values. Here we have a choice between conservation and extermination, and extermination was chosen. Not only is the decision irresponsible, but to set out deliberately to destroy what may be the only surviving herd of the breed is unbelievable.

“It is a sad legacy and example to leave our children,” Mrs Rowe said. “If we wonder at the violence in our society we have only to look at ourselves.”

The secretary of the park board (Mr C. W. Groabe) said yesterday that the board (Mr C. W. Groube) extermination, but control in the island’s scenic reserve. Interested groups had had 12 months to organise their submissions, and so any ac-

tion would now be entirely up to the Forest Service, he said.

At present, there were about 1000 goats on Ara- ) pawa Island, Mr Groube I said. The Forest Service had (been asked to step in so i that bush in the reserve, which could not regenerate because of the goats’ feeding habits, could grow again. Unless the goats were controlled, the remaining remnant of the Cook Strait coastal vegetation type would ultimately die, Mr Groube said. However, the Forest Service had been asked not to use helicopters or dogs unless the landowners adjoining the reserve had been consulted and to see that care was taken to ensure that cattle and sheep were not disturbed, Mr Groube said. Mrs Rowe said: “We made full and honest use of the 12-month moratorium to research the goats. I asked for a three-month extension so that we could collate all our materia] for submissions.

“I spoke to the chairman ot the Park Board (Mr I. Mitchell) about this and told him about our plans to raise funds for a sanctuary. Donations of $lOO have already been received. “We were give,, a year to gather information, but not the three months to bring it all together. The board has completely ignored the report prepared by the D.5.1.R., which spent $l2OO in materials alone for test plots to determine the effect of the goats on plant life. The amount does not include

the cost of helicopters, salaries, or board.” Mrs Rowe said that a number of nanny goats now had kids at foot. Earlier, she had asked the Forest Service whether it would look for a kid when its men shot a nanny. The reply had been negative. Since the board had made its decision, dozens of persons had called on her or had telephoned her. “They are all enraged,” she said. “By what God-given right can a group of men decide to wipe out a breed of goats? We have spent time, effort, and money for a year to save them. Now we are back to square one and the goats face extermination again.” The president of Wildlife Action, Mr M. H. Willis, of the Willowbank Wildlife reserve at Christchurch, said

that the board had com» pletely ignored the most acceptable alternative proposed by his group. “We proposed to do all the culling of goats not selective for the breed and to keep the herd in balance.” he said. "This was a sound proposal and a compromise that would satisfy all parties. The board has completely ignored this alternative, one that would cost the taxpayer nothing.”

In Dunedin, Miss Julienne Colbert said she would also send a telegram to Mr Young, the Minister of Lands, asking him to stop th° proposed slaughter of the goats. Tests by D.S.I.R. scientists had shown that the Arapawa Island goats constituted a “pure herd,” said Miss Colbert. There was no way the island would be overrun by the goats as environmental factors caused them to breed “only every two years,” she said.