FOREST AND BIRD PROTECTION SOCIETY

Patea Mail, 16 May 1941, Page 4

FOREST AND BIRD PROTECTION SOCIETY

PLACE FOR THE HAWK THE BALANCE OF NATURE In the opinion of leading members of the Forest and Bird Protection Society, the Hon. W. E. Parry’s advocacy of destruction of harrier hawks is based rather on the biassed shortsighted views of numbers of shootists than on knowledge of the hawks’ place in the balance of nature. A contributor to “Forest and Bird” (the quarterly magazine published by the Forest and Bird Protection Society) states (that in California the marsh hawk, a very similar species to the harrier, has many enemies among men in the same way as the harrier hawk has in Now 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 (a post in California as well as in New Zealand). The editorial article in the magazine has this passage: —“In New Zealand it has always been the practice to make decisions on wild life matters without export research and biological knowledge. Large sums have been spent on introducing many species, to bo followed by more spending in making iwar on Ithe 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 he necessary by trained biologists,” The Society’s view is that the indiscriminate killing of harrier hawks should be checked until an accurate necessary survey of 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.