Case for goats 'not proven’

Press, 31 May 1978, Page 15

Case for goats ' not proven’

The responsibility of different agencies for Arapawa Island is complex. Some of the mud slung during the row has hit the wrong people, and different agencies have been attacked for acts or omissions of others, writes Oliver Riddel.

The Marlborough Maritime Park Board has a statutory responsibility under the Reserves Act, 1977, for the preservation of the scenic reserves on the island. Section 19 of the act requires it to preserve in perpetuity areas of scenic interest or beauty, or natural features or landscape ...” The board’s actions stem from this responsibility, but its actions are limited to the reserve area (about one-third) and not the whole island. If the freehold owners of other land want the goats controlled, then they have to deal with the Forest Service direct.

Wild animal control is the task of the Forest Service, but it will not initiate control measures on Arapawa becuase it does not control any land there. It will act on the request of the land-owners, whether individuals or Government agencies. Because of restrictions on manpower and money, the park board has been acting under the advice of the Lands and Survey Department. The department’s advice, in turn, is based on a new policy towards all feral mammals in New Zealand as the result of d seminar on the subject two years ago. It will no longer treat all feral mammals as pests, without value or virtue. Instead, it will be discriminatory. Feral mammals must now be evaluated before any “control” programme begins, so that in worth-while cases they can be preserved.

During the 12-month moratorium on the Arapawa goats ii.iposed by the park board, an evaluation was being carried out by the Ecology Division of the D.5.1.R., helped by Victoria University.

The result is a massive document. It had been kept confidential, but a copy was made available for “The Press” to see. The Ecology Division itself plans no further research, although Lands and Survey and other interested parties will continue.

To ascertain whether or not the feral goats on Arapawa Island were descended from the “Old English” goats liberated there by Captain Cook in 1777 — exactly 200 years before the study was undertaken — became the main purpose of the study,

A' book published by Pegler in 1886 is considered the definitive work

on the breed. The Ecology Division found that: “The goats on Arapawa Island fit Pegler’s descriptions more closely than . any other breed studied in New Zealand and, maybe, for that matter in the world.”

The points of similarity were palage (hair colour and pattern), hair length, presence of under-wool, erect or “prick” ears, and horn shape. All these features suggested a high level of “Old English” breeding. But the study also found indications of genes from other goat types present. It questioned whether Cook may not have acquired some of the goats liberated in countries other than England, or whether other goats may have been introduced since.

In the finish, the study was unable to state categorically what breed tvpe the feral goats on Arapawa Island are.