Recreational and commercial hunters have been asked to identify areas where game herds are at risk ahead of this year's large-scale aerial 1080 operation.
The call comes as the Department of Conservation prepare for the Battle for our Birds, a large-scale aerial 1080 operation to control rats and stoats in response to a beech mast event.
It follows a similar campaign to control rats and stoats on public conservation land in response to a beech mast event due to heavy seedfall in 2014 and will be the largest pest control operation in New Zealand's history.
The call comes as the Department of Conservation prepare for the Battle for our Birds, a large-scale aerial 1080 operation to control rats and stoats in response to a beech mast event.
It follows a similar campaign to control rats and stoats on public conservation land in response to a beech mast event due to heavy seedfall in 2014 and will be the largest pest control operation in New Zealand's history.
The Department of Conservation had identified possible sites for the aerial poisoning and is consulting with the Game Animal Council and the NZ Deerstalkers' Association to identify where game herds would be affected and how to mitigate those effects.
Game Animal councillor Geoff Kerr said they had reached out to the hunting community to have their say on areas of concern through a survey on the council's website.
"This is an improvement over the last Battle for our Birds where there was essentially no representation for hunting interests, the Department of Conservation has recognised that and has discussed that with us," he said.
"There are a whole lot of people who are potentially adversely affected and we have given them the opportunity to have a say."
Mitigation would involve the use of deer repellent and/or the timing of the operations.
"It won't change where 1080 gets spread aerially, it will possibly change the timing in some locations to times when deer are less susceptible or it might change whether deer repellent is used."
The most at risk and highly valued game herds had been identified so far as fallow deer in North-West Nelson, Blue Mountains and Wakatipu areas, Wakatipu white tailed deer and Ruahine Ranges red deer. Within the top of the south, potential areas for the aerial poison operation were highlighted as Abel Tasman, Kahurangi National Park, Mokihinui, Nelson Lakes east and Maruia, south of Murchison.
"What we have identified is largely fallow deer herds and white tail. Both species graze off the forest floor and are quite inquisitive so they clean everything up and they are small deer so they don't need to get much poison and it kills them."
Kerr said deer repellent, which contained pigs blood and was unattractive to herbivores like deer, was expensive and would not be used in all locations. Following the survey, there would be discussions about where it would be applied.
"But we don't know everything, we don't presume to speak for people without giving them a chance to have a say, hence we've got out there with that survey," he said.
"The Game Animal Council is responsible for deer, chamois, tahr and pigs species in general so we just want to know essentially what people are hunting there and whether they are worried about those species at all."
The survey has gone out to professional hunting guides, the New Zealand Pig Hunters Association, helicopter operators who harvest deer for the venison industry and recreational hunters.
It was announced last month that the Battle for our Birds operation would receive $20.7 million in new operating funding for 2015/16 from the budget, helping to fight back against the expected pest population boom.
The total area to be treated will be 800,000 hectares and monitoring is still underway, with the final site selection will be made by the end of June.
The Battle for our Birds 2016 mitigation survey can be found on the Game Animal Council website.
- Stuff
Game Animal councillor Geoff Kerr said they had reached out to the hunting community to have their say on areas of concern through a survey on the council's website.
"This is an improvement over the last Battle for our Birds where there was essentially no representation for hunting interests, the Department of Conservation has recognised that and has discussed that with us," he said.
"There are a whole lot of people who are potentially adversely affected and we have given them the opportunity to have a say."
Mitigation would involve the use of deer repellent and/or the timing of the operations.
"It won't change where 1080 gets spread aerially, it will possibly change the timing in some locations to times when deer are less susceptible or it might change whether deer repellent is used."
The most at risk and highly valued game herds had been identified so far as fallow deer in North-West Nelson, Blue Mountains and Wakatipu areas, Wakatipu white tailed deer and Ruahine Ranges red deer. Within the top of the south, potential areas for the aerial poison operation were highlighted as Abel Tasman, Kahurangi National Park, Mokihinui, Nelson Lakes east and Maruia, south of Murchison.
"What we have identified is largely fallow deer herds and white tail. Both species graze off the forest floor and are quite inquisitive so they clean everything up and they are small deer so they don't need to get much poison and it kills them."
Kerr said deer repellent, which contained pigs blood and was unattractive to herbivores like deer, was expensive and would not be used in all locations. Following the survey, there would be discussions about where it would be applied.
"But we don't know everything, we don't presume to speak for people without giving them a chance to have a say, hence we've got out there with that survey," he said.
"The Game Animal Council is responsible for deer, chamois, tahr and pigs species in general so we just want to know essentially what people are hunting there and whether they are worried about those species at all."
The survey has gone out to professional hunting guides, the New Zealand Pig Hunters Association, helicopter operators who harvest deer for the venison industry and recreational hunters.
It was announced last month that the Battle for our Birds operation would receive $20.7 million in new operating funding for 2015/16 from the budget, helping to fight back against the expected pest population boom.
The total area to be treated will be 800,000 hectares and monitoring is still underway, with the final site selection will be made by the end of June.
The Battle for our Birds 2016 mitigation survey can be found on the Game Animal Council website.
- Stuff
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