Whangarei Has Enough Pheasants

Northern Advocate, 8 January 1948, Page 3

Whangarei Has Enough Pheasants

“Local breeders in the Whangarei district can fulfil all our own requirements with a bit to spare,” said the president of the Whangarei Acclimatisation Society (Mr S. J. Snow) when referring to the suggestion of the Minister of Internal Affairs (Mr Parry), that one-man game farms should be set up in the North Island for pheasant breeding. “According to the figures available it should be possible to release over 1000 birds a year,” continued Mr Snow. “These come from two major breeders and a few smaller ones, and should give us a surplus to sell to other societies.

“Nevertheless, in those districts where sufficient pheasants are not available, the scheme should be a welcome one, and should prove quite sound as long as it is gone about in the right way. “The right area must be found and the right equipment used.”

MEETING DEMAND Breeders in the Whangarei district considered that it would be a long time before the supply of birds caught up with the demand.

It would take about one year to train an ex-serviceman and the cost of equipment was high. The work was trying owing to the delicate nature of the birds, but the proposal for a central stock farm where incubation could be carried out would cut the work down considerably. It had to be born in mind, however, that the most difficult period was after incubation, when the birds would be sent to the individual farmers for rearing.

The general consensus of opinion was that some such scheme was necessary to provide sufficient game for the ever-increasing numbers of shooters who were becoming interested in the sport in other parts of the North Island.