HARRIER HAWKS

Evening Post, Volume CXXXI, Issue 118, 21 May 1941, Page 10

HARRIER HAWKS

IS SHOOTING JUSTIFIED?

In the /opinion of leading members! of the Forest and Bird Protection Society, the advocacy' of the Minister of Internal Affairs (Mr. Parry) of destruction of harrier hawks is based rather on the biased, short-sighted views of numbers of shooters than on knowledge of the hawks' place in the balance of Nature.

A contributor to "Forest and Bird," the quarterly magazine published by the society, states that in California the marsh hawk, a very similar species to the harrier, has many enemies among men as the harrier hawk has in New Zealand, but, as the result of extensive investigation into its habits, it is protected. Research has determined that it is beneficial to a high degree as it keeps down such pests as rats, mice, ground squirrels, and rabbits.

The editorial article in the magazine has this passage:—"ln New Zealand it has always been the practice to make decisions on wild life matters without expert research and biological knowledge. Large sums have been spent on introducing many species, to be followed by more spending in making war on the introduced creature if it acclimatised itself and was considered by non-biologists to be harmful. Further large sums have been dissipated on the killing of predators, a practice which should not be permitted unless it is judged to be necessary by trained biologists."

The society's view is that the indiscriminate killing of harrier hawks should be checked till an accurate survey o* wild life has been made by fully-qualified experts. It .is held that such an investigation may prove that sportsmen should regard the hawk as a natural, agent working for them rather than against, them.