Greymouth Evening Star. AND BRUNNERTON ADVOCATE. SATURDAY, DECEMBER 7th., 1929. DEER MENACE

Greymouth Evening Star, 7 December 1929, Page 6

Greymouth Evening Star. AND BRUNNERTON ADVOCATE. SATURDAY, DECEMBER 7th., 1929. DEER MENACE

pUBLIC opinion on the West Coast needs to be arous.ed as to the extermination threatening the Province’s forests, through the ravages of deer. It will come as a surprise to many to learn that such a danger exists, and that the pest is such that very drastic measures will be neeessajry if the forests are to be preserved. Not only is the bush endangered but valuable pasture land is also menaced. In the more settled parts of Westland, deer have made their unwelcome appearance in numbers causing considerable misgiving. In some parts they are reported to be running with the cattle, eating the pasturage and creating other mischief, and generally developing into a pest even more serious than that caused by rabbits.

Any comforting belief that the reports are exaggerated can be dispelled immediately. One party, which recently visited the Doubtful Sound vicinity were staggered by what they saw. The deer have come over the divide and are now right down to the West Coast. Mr. A. L. Hunt of Wellington, when interviewed by a pressman said: ‘ ‘ They must be there in thousands, too, and they are doing immense damage to the bush. They are mostly red deer. At frequent intervals, even along the track, we saw the trees all ring-barked; all the bait chewed off six or seven feet above the ground. They skin every bit of bark off, and the tree simply dies. On any amount of trees we found their horn marks all over the butts, and all the undergrowth was torn up and trampled down. The astonishing part of it is that the deer are now found in such great numbers in this, the most inaccessible part of New Zealand, and it is evident that no bush anywhere can be considered safe from their depredations. It is a terrible thing to think of. There is no possibility of shooting them in such fearfully wild country as that. No subsidy that could be offered would induce men to go into it. So there is only one way of gettng rid of them, and that is by poisoning them.”

The West Coast is looking to the tourist traffic to aid. the Province’s future development, but without the bush, the district would lose one of its chief attractions, and. holidaymakers would go elsewhere. The Grey Acclimatisation Society is alive to the peril, and proposes offering two shillings per tail, and to employ men to shoot the deer at sight. These measures are not enough. The price offered is not sufficiently attractive to induce mem to devote their time to the purpose, except casually, and meanwhile, the deer will increase beyond the rate of the casualty list. Few, if any, acclimatisation societies, have the necessary funds to deal with the pest in adequate fashion, and the matter seems to be one for the State, which is directly interested in forestry, as well as indirectly concerned with the national aspects of the queston. Timber-millers might co operate, but whatever is done, should be done immediately. The danger is real, and cannot be disregarded, except at a terrible price. Deer skins and flesh have a market value, but the difficulty of getting payable consignments from the bush at present, prevents deer-

killing being a commercial proposition. If little or nothing is done, at once, to wage war on the deer, these will multiply until the cost of the havoc wrought, will be tenfold what the expense would be in dealing with it now. Vain regrets are useless, and no good purpose is served by endeavouring to allocate the blame for the origin of the trouble. “Kill the deer” must be the slogan, and the Government should institute a vigorous war before the “enemy” gets stronger. The problem is national and should be treated as such. Liberal subsidies should be granted to those prepared to engage in an onslaught on the pest, such expenditure being regarded as wise investment. “Remember the rabbit and the cost of its subjection,” should be the warning kept before the eyes of any authorities prone to be apathetic about the deer pest.