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Status of Arapawa goats questioned

Nelson reporter I The key point in the argu- , ment to preserve the Arapawa Island goats is that they are said to be from a now-extinct Old English breed, originating from goats landed by Captain Cook in 1773. But the evidence of this is ( tenuous, according to Dr; | John Gibb, director of the’i Ecology Division of the De- , partment of Scientific and , Industrial Research. Any goats brought to New;; Zealand by Captain Cookji were as likely to have come [I from the Cape Verde Islands : or South Africa as from): Britain: and it was unlikely |i that the two goats known to ; have been released by Cap- < tain Cook on Arapawa Is- 1 land in April, 1773, would < have survived. In November. 1773, Cook 1 had lamented that “the two 1 goats have likewise been caught, -killed, and eater>,”L On his third voyage inFeb-p ruary, 1777, (Cook left two i more goats with the Maorjs in Queen Charlotte Sound. However,- it seemed that the Maoris had every intention ■ of eating them on Cook’s de--I parture and it was most un-i likely that they were set!' free. Then, when Captain Bel-i lingshausen explored Queen I Charlotte Sound on foot and: (by boat in 1820 he saw no; goats. It was not until 18391 that Edward Jernmgham! Wakefield recorded goats at) the whaling station in Tory} Channel. These may have) been brought by whalers!; from the Americas, Austra-; i lia, the Pacific Islands, or anywhere else. They may; have been a mixture of I breeds. There was certainly j I no justification for suppos-i ing they were of any one; I particular breed. There had been many in- 1 troductions since. The Conservator of For- -; ests at Nelson (Mr P. W.j l _ll

Maplesden) in reporting these researches of Dr Gibb, said that Mr A. A. Adcock, a Christchurch member of the Arapawa Wildlife Trust, had very little justification fori putting a notice where Ara-1 [pawa goats were penned in| I the Waimairi County Coun-i cil’s reserve, saying: “Ara-| ■pawa Island goats, liberated) by Captain Cook, now facing extinction by the Forest Service.” The preservation of the: | goats in the Arapawa Island ( (reserve had been deplored at last week’s meeting of the I' Maritime Park Board said ; |M r Maplesden. The i reserve involved contained about 500 ha of native coastal high forest which I had become unique in the ; Cook Strait area. The forest had been [browsed to the extent that i the understorey had been largely removed, with the .consequent.loss of soil ci»er and th? exposure of basement rock. Under these circumstances, the forest had suf-1 fered considerably and was! I in danger of extinction; Mr: Maplesden said. The reserve had considerable scientific and aesthe-| | tic value which far out-j [weighed any that would be; I placed on the goats. “The forest should be re-| igarded as a valuable part of( (New Zealand’s heritage and; ; in this light it is essential j I that it be allowed to regene-1 rate which it cannot do ini | the presence of browsing' ■ animals, particularly goats,” j said Mr Maplesden. The goats on the island ( were not the last of their breed — whatever their) breed was. Several hundred ; had already been taken off [the island, he said. A spokesman for the Goat\ < Breeders’ Association in the; South Island. Miss I. Ram-I; say. said yesterday that al-1 though approval for a herd); book for the breed of Ara-1]

pawa Old English goats had been given in October, 1978, no goat of that type had yet been registered. Judges from the association had recently certified i that, in their opinion, the ! goats on Arapawa Island I were of the pure Old English breed. ; Miss Ramsay said that a | herd book for the breed was i now officially open. In the (next few weeks, members of [ the Goat Breeders’ Associ- ! ation and the Arapawa Island Wildlife Trust would muster the goats on a private property to tattdo them and register them in the new herd book. All the 130 to 135 goats on private property had to be tattooed and registered separately, she said. The Goat Breeders’ Association hoped that official recognition of the “rare breed” might help to save some of the goats for future breeding and possible sale to English breeders. The goats were to be [named the Arapawa Old j English goat to recognise [that they were different [from the proposed new I breed of Old English goat in England. I Miss Ramsay said that [some breeders in England ;were crossbreeding goats in i the hope that they would [produce an Old English [throwback. j If no goats of that type j were produced, the English (breeders might consider im- | porting male goats from I Arapawa Island, she said. The majority of goats on ’the island were males because the Forest Service had a policy of culling mainly I female goats, Miss Ramsay said. Protesters on Arapawa Island had found the carcases of 49 female goats on Satur- ; day morning, she said. The [shortage of females caused | the males to become frustrated and cause damage to properties.

Permanent link to this item

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19790212.2.17

Bibliographic details

Press, 12 February 1979, Page 2

Word Count
858

Status of Arapawa goats questioned Press, 12 February 1979, Page 2

Status of Arapawa goats questioned Press, 12 February 1979, Page 2

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