Deer, chamois, thar and pigs: destructive pests or valued hunting resource?

As a part of the support agreement between United Future and the Labour-led Government it was agreed that United Future would be involved in developing a nationwide pest reduction strategy.

As a result Conservation Minister Chris Carter appointed a ministerial panel to investigate the options for managing deer, chamois, thar and wild pigs in New Zealand.

The panel is seeking the view of interest groups, such as conservation and recreational groups and Maori.

Factors considered by the panel will include:

conservation of indigenous biodiversity
New Zealand’s biosecurity requirements
recreational, food and trophy value of these species
impact on exotic plantation forests, farming and tourism
law and policy changes associated with different options
the cost of each option.

Hunting and conservation – co-operation or conflicting interests?

For many decades recreational and commercial hunters have helped conservation by playing a role in the control of pest numbers. Protecting the environment and encouraging hunting has gone hand in hand.

Unfortunately, some hunters now want to change the law to give deer, chamois, thar and wild pigs the status of “valued introduced species” or “game animals”. They want the law and conservation policies changed so that landowners and managers, including the Department of Conservation, will be required to manage these animals for the benefit of hunters.

Such an outcome would have serious implications for the conservation of native forests, shrublands, grasslands and alpine ecosystems. The harmful impact of these introduced species includes:

Deer strip the forest understory of palatable species such as broadleaf and five finger, dramatically changing the types of species found over large areas of forest. By eating young seedlings they can also prevent regeneration of forests, leading to their collapse.

Thar and chamois modify alpine vegetation, reducing the health of native species including species endemic to the Southern Alps.

Wild pigs predate native snails and nests of sea birds, and have been implicated in the extinctions of several bird species.

Management for the benefit of hunters also has serious implications for the control of deer, chamois, thar and wild pigs on private land, where they pose a significant threat to exotic forestry, crops and livestock.

Recent experience in the Manawatu and Horowhenua, where landowners and managers were restricted in their ability to control sambar deer by the hunter-dominated Sambar Deer Management Foundation proved a disaster. Numbers of sambar deer exploded and their range expanded, causing significant damage to private land and the conservation estate.

After years of landowner frustration the control of sambar deer management has been taken away from the hunters and they are now treated like any other pest. However, some hunters are keen to impose similar hunter-controlled management of all species of deer, chamois, thar and wild pigs, throughout the country, including conservation land.

Deer, chamois, thar and wild pigs need to be controlled to limit their impact in areas where they are already found, and the establishment of new populations of these species outside their current range must be prevented.

Forest & Bird support all methods of deer, chamois, thar and wild pig control, and encourage initiatives that would increase recreational and commercial hunting effort. However, it is vital for the future of New Zealand’s indigenous plants and wildlife and its primary industries that national and local government agencies continue to manage deer, thar, chamois and pigs, as hunter self-management has been shown to increased adverse impacts of these species.

The ministerial panel is expected to report back in 2008.

This page was updated on 19 March, 2008