KAPITI ISLAND

Evening Post, Volume CVI, Issue 36, 11 August 1923, Page 8

KAPITI ISLAND

RIDDING IT OF GOATS AND

SHEEP.

The necessity for ridding Kapiti Island of goats and sheep is emphasised by the Commissioner of Crown Lands (Mr. T. Brook) in a departmental report presented to Parliament.

"As a result of the visit of the Advisory Board to Kapiti last year," says Mr. Brook, "certain work was undertaken that is expected to assist in the regeneration of the forest and the protection of the native birds. A substantial sheep-proof fence has b^n erected on portion of the boundary between the land owned by the Crown and that owned by the Natives, with the object of excluding all stock from the sanctuary. The new fence must be extended or the old one substantially repaired, and it is hoped that this will be done during the coming year. . "Two hundred and seventy-nine goats were killed during the year. It is estimated that the surviving ones do not exceed eighty in number. They have taken refuge on the steep faces at the south-west end of the island, and at the mouth of Taepiro creek. They are not now present in such numbers as to do serious damage, but the work of extermination is an obvious necessity, and must be continued. . .

, "A more pressing matter is the removal or the destruction of sheep. Soma of them are the property of Native owners who use the Native land at the north end of the island for grazing purposes, but most of them are the offspring of animals that ran wild many years ago. Ample time and opportunity have been given for the removal of all privately-owned stock, and more vigorous measures for ridding the sanctuary oMheir presence will now he adopted. _ "Opossums have been greatly reduced m numbers. During the year 2292 were taken, and the tally for the coming season is expected to fall much below this. Only two cats were seen, and both were destroyed.

• "As a safe retreat for our native birds the sanctuary is fulfilling its purpose satisfactorily. Species now rarely seen on the mainland are present in fair numbers, and the native wood-pig-eon certainly shows a marked increase, The Advisory Board is considering the introduction of species not now represented on the island, and this matter will be followed up during the coming year."