DOC operations director Dr Ben Reddiex has released an updated Tahr Control Operational Plan for the coming year, which will focus control on public conservation land.
“With an open mind we have considered a wide range of submissions from groups and individuals representing the interests of recreational and commercial tahr hunters, as well as conservationists, recreationists and statutory bodies,” he said in a statement.
Acknowledging the new plan will not satisfy everyone, he says it will enable the recreational and commercial hunting of trophy bulls and other tahr, while still moving DOC towards meeting the statutory goals of the 1993 Himalayan Thar Control Plan.
That plan aims for a population of 10,000 animals, at which point there will be no ecological impact.
“We are not targeting tahr in popular hunting spots and we’re exploring options to improve hunter access to public conservation land, such as extending the popular tahr ballot period,” he said.
“We’re also publishing maps showing the locations of bull tahr we have observed across 425,000ha of public conservation land outside the national parks.
“We have already recorded more than a thousand observations of bull tahr, which DOC has left for hunters.”
Hunters say the plan is driven by ideology.
NZ Deerstalkers Association chief executive Gwyn Thurlow says the plan also reflects political interference, lacks quality data and science and was made to appease Forest and Bird, who he says continue to threaten court action.
“After reviewing the latest iteration of the plan, we can see no substantive change to the Department’s approach from before the High Court win by the Tahr Foundation, because the bottom line is the number of operational hours has not reduced,” he said.
“This means our tahr herd will be decimated as feared.”
Reddiex rejected claims DOC was seeking to eradicate tahr, saying animals were being left for hunters.
However, DOC is planning 132 hours of aerial control outside the tahr feral range and will target all tahr in Aoraki/Mount Cook and Westland Tai Poutini National Parks.
“In the national parks, we are legally required to reduce the number of tahr to the lowest practicable densities and it’s important we protect and preserve these special areas for New Zealand’s native species,” Reddiex said.
Since January last year, DOC has shot 900 animals from outside their feral range, including 500 in the Mount Hutt area, and from mid-July it has flown 118 hours inside the feral range and shot 4700 tahr on public conservation land.
Using DOC’s own statements and aerial culling to date, Thurlow estimates there are fewer than 20,000 tahr left which he believes meets the ecological objectives.
“The actual ecologically sustainable target number is between 10,000 and 50,000 tahr, but no one actually knows the figure because DOC fails year after year to carry out the science,” Thurlow said.
