Why Does DoC Destroy Bull Thar?

act-new-zealand

Mon Dec 02 2002 13:00:00 GMT+1300 (New Zealand Daylight Time)

Why Does DoC Destroy Bull Thar?

Monday, 2 December 2002, 2:04 pm
Press Release: ACT New Zealand

The Government must explain why DoC has spent money which could have funded a footbridge or a track or hut upgrade instead slaughtering bull thar worth up to $1 million this year alone says ACT Sports spokesman Stephen Franks.

"On last night's Sunday programme it showed as simple ideological bloody mindedness.

"Thar are now vulnerable in their Himalayan home. New Zealand is the only country where thar can be safety hunted, and thousands of New Zealanders value the challenge as well as the foreign exchange from guided international visitors.

"If DoC culling was targeted at nannies they might be sincere when they claim it is to control thar populations. Only nannies can grow the population. The numbers are not growing. There is no evidence they are threatening the survival of any endangered plant in New Zealand.

"ACT is lodging many questions to the Minister of Conservation on this grotesque waste of money and opportunity. They are questions that should have been answered before the slaughter began", Stephen Franks said.

Parliamentary Questions to the Minister of Conservation

· Has the Department of Conservation any measure or estimate of the economic activity currently associated with the commercial hunting of bull thar, and if not why not?

· Has the Department of Conservation any measure of foreign exchange returns attributable to commercial guiding and hunting for male thar, and if so what are they?

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· Has the Department of Conservation any measure of foreign exchange returns attributable to commercial guiding and hunting for male thar, and if not why not?

· Has the Department of Conservation considered focussing all its culling on thar nannies to leave bulls for private and commercially guided hunters, and if not why not?

· Has the Department of Conservation examined ways to derive revenue from guided or private hunting of bull thar, and if so what is the outcome?

· Has the Department of Conservation examined ways to derive revenue from guided or private hunting of bull thar, and if not why not?

· Has the Department of Conservation explored with representative private hunters and commercial guiding operations ways to maximise sport uses and revenue from the hunting of bull thar in national parks, and if so what has been the outcome?

· Has the Department of Conservation any estimate of the economic gains or losses to New Zealand from its practice of culling bull thar, and if so what are they?

· Has the Department of Conservation any estimate of the economic gains or losses to New Zealand from its practice of culling bull thar, and if not why not?

· Is there any key difference between sustained control of thar intended by the Himalayan Thar Control Plan 1993, and game management of thar populations with and for hunting interests, in terms of costs and benefits?

· How many male thar have been culled by the Department of Conservation since the commencement of the Himalayan thar control plan 1993?

· How many male thar culled by the Department of Conservation since the commencement of the Himalayan control plan 1993 were over 5 years old?

· What is the average cost per animal to the Department of Conservation of culling thar over the previous five years?

· Has the Department of Conservation any policy on culling of thar apart from the policy which may be implicit in the Himalayan Thar Control Plan, and if so how is it recorded?

· If there is policy on culling related to the Himalayan Thar Control Plan or otherwise, what consultation process was undertaken in the formulation of that policy?

· Is it necessary to kill mature bull thar to implement the Himalayan Thar Control Plan 1993, and if so why?

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