Saturday, March 30, 2024

Area-specific tahr control plans under way

Neal Wallace
The Department of Conservation (DoC) appears to be taking a more conciliatory approach with its control plan for Himalayan tahr for the coming year.
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Control will focus on high population areas, specifically the Aoraki/Mount Cook and Westland Tai Poutini national parks, and outside the feral range, but overall control will be scaled back compared to the last two years.

DoC says it will not target identifiable male tahr over the remaining 425,000ha of public conservation land inside its seven management units. 

“We will continue to focus on targeting high tahr densities on the West Coast where hunter access is challenging, and hunters and other stakeholders have reported there are still large numbers of animals,” DoC wild animal manager James Holborow said.

“We also plan to trial using professional ground hunters to search for and control tahr in forest areas where animals can be hard to spot from the air.

“This year we will be sharing maps showing identifiable male tahr observations, and spots where we have seen high tahr densities in recent surveys.”

Its Tahr Control Plan was designed with input from the Tahr Plan Implementation Liaison Group, says Holborow, which was formed to represent hunter interests.

It is a much less ambitious plan than 2019, when it proposed an aggressive programme, resisted by hunters, to cull about 18,000 tahr to reduce what is seen as an out of control population that had reached 34,500.

The plan will allow recreational hunting within the feral range and encourage targeted hunting through the use of ballots and guided hunting, as allowed by concessions.

Aerial assisted trophy hunting and wild animal recovery from July to next April may be used as needed.

A new population survey this autumn will provide detailed information, including gender balance on tahr numbers in the South Rakaia/Rangitata and the Gammack/Two Thumb management units, which will be left to hunters.

“We have decided not to control tahr in the South Rakaia/Rangitata management unit over the next year, while we analyse the survey data from this popular hunting spot,” he said.

“The area is accessible by vehicle, has a range of huts available and is favoured by hunters for day hunts or longer trips.

“We look forward to seeing recreational and guided hunters play the major part in control efforts.”

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