Deer farmer to fight on

Press, 23 November 1988, Page 1

Deer farmer to fight on

A Blenheim farmer, Mr Bevan Undrill, intends to continue his fight with the Ministry of Defence for compensation for three dead stags. Mr Undrill says his stags died of fright after Air Force Strikemaster jets flew over his property last week. However, Ohakea Air Base said yesterday it would not accept any blame for the incident. Mr Undrill, who farms in the Wairau Valley, said that one of the stags was a valuable imported animal. “It sounds hard to believe, but deer are very sensitive creatures,

and since none of them showed any sign of injury, I believe they died of fright.” The valuable stag, Schultz, had been photographed for a publicity pamphlet only the day before. The stag had been calm when he was left, Mr Undrill said. Mr Undrill also said he believed it was not the first time that stags had died of fright after Air Force activity in the Blenheim area. He has threatened to complain to the Minister of Defence, Mr Tizard. Squadron Leader Andy Anderson of Ohakea said Strikemaster

jets had been on a low-flying exercise in the area. They had done nothing wrong and the Air Force would not accept blame for the incident, he said. The incident had been thoroughly investigated and none of the aircraft had contravened any regulations for height or speed, he said. “If the deer got a sudden shock, it is because they are not used to seeing the planes but we did not do anything against the regulations,” Squadron Leader Anderson said.