CHAMOIS IN LEWIS PASS

Grey River Argus, 11 January 1944, Page 6

CHAMOIS IN LEWIS PASS

Recently a Christchurch sportsman brought home, for mounting, the head of a chamois shot in the Lewis Pass. In a direct line, this is about 110 miles from the Mount Cook region, where Chamois were liberated first in 1907 and is the farthest north chamois reported in New Zealand. Originally five chamois and seven bucks were liberated in the Hermitage area in 1907 when they were received from Emperor Franz J'osef of Austria in appreciation of a collection of New Zealand kakas, keas, kiwis, katipos and moa bones assembled by Admiral Von Rutter during a visit in 1904. The presentation was made to the Government. which them controlled the Hermitage at Mount Cook. The thar were freed two years later. Their natural habitat is the Austrian Alp?, and they move in herds io up to 100 at an altitude' of 4,000 feet. Government cullers in 1937 and 1938 shot 5,000 chamois and thar within a ten mile radius of the Hermitage. This campaign followed a period when the animals almost totally destroyed native mountain plants in the area. The growth has now recovered.