The Conservation Department initially planned to cull 17,500 tahr from the South Island’s Southern Alps but that will now be done in stages after regular monitoring.
Conservation Minister Eugenie Sage said the Himalayan Tahr Liaison Group meeting, made up of hunters, trampers and conservationists, acknowledged numbers had to be reduced and their views would help DOC finalise its operational plan.
Hunters asked that bulls not be targeted while conservationists want to see tahr numbers reduced to under 10,000, the target in the 1993 Himalayan Tahr Control Plan.
“There was general support for taking an adaptive management approach to controlling Himalayan tahr,” Sage said.
“This involves the department seeking to reduce the Himalayan tahr population by 6000 animals through immediate control work in October and early November and then reviewing progress with input from the Tahr Liaison Group.
“DOC expects to remove 10,000 animals by August 2019. It will prioritise national parks, the South West World Heritage Area, the northern and southern exclusion zones and adjacent feeder valleys and more difficult to access country for its control work.”
Hunters and wild animal recovery operators will be active over summer along with DOC, which will monitor the population and vegetation condition.
DOC’s plan to cull tahr provoked a hostile reaction from hunters who described it as rushed and based on slender data, such as forecasts there were between 17,500 and 55,000 animals.
Hunters also argued they were not consulted or canvassed over how they could contribute, as required by the control plan.
