Thread: the OFF TOPIC to Stags shot 21 (discussion of wild animal management)

Originally Posted by gimp

Can you expand on this? Do you mean the moratorium on WARO in the 1980s? My understanding was that was largely due to the NZDA but I obviously wasn't around at the time so am willing to be corrected.

Tahr were never really in danger of eradication realistically (witness DOC efforts to remove tahr from outside the feral range for 30+ years, unsuccessfully and at great expense per animal once populations get low e.g. Waikite, Arawhata, Thompson Mountains, etc) but may have been reduced to a level where they were not a viable hunting resource indefinitely.

What I was referring to was the most recent 'culls'. The international Trophy Hunting Industry is worth millions and millions of dollars, NZ's slice adds up to I think fifty million plus to overseas hunters, those hunters being the highest value tourists that this country attracts - hunters will spend 15 to 20 thousand US on a one week hunt. This has not gone un-noticed by Govt and there is potential to easily double that to a one hundred million dollar industry with little environmental impact.