6th July 2020 By Bridget O'Connell | bridget@tourismticker.com | @tourismticker
Hunting operators have thrown their weight behind a campaign to stop the Department of Conservation killing tahr in national parks which is set to reach the High Court in Wellington on Wednesday.
The Professional Hunting Guides Association is backing a campaign launched by the Tahr Foundation which will see it this week make a High Court application for an injunction to stop the department going ahead with its 2020-21 plan.
The controversial plan, which came into effect last week, will see the department increase the number of tahr it kills, including culling all animals in national parks.
The association has claimed that the move will devastate the industry which provides hundreds of jobs, including to guides, accommodation and helicopter operators and retailers, and a multi-million dollar benefit to the country.
PHGA president, James Cagney, also plans to write to ministers including tourism minister, Kelvin Davis, and contact Tourism Industry Aotearoa and Tourism New Zealand to ask for help.
Cagney said: “This plan is a real blow. It would effectively decimate the tahr population in the Southern Alps and if successful will throw hundreds of people out of work.”
“Tourism is our lifeblood and we need help to stop this plan to ensure that a viable tahr resource remains when our booked and rescheduled international hunting clients return when the borders reopen and save hundreds of jobs.”
He added: “What DOC is planning couldn’t have come at a worse time. The Covid pandemic has already hit our industry hard and now with no disclosure of the draft plan during consultation, DOC is going to make things even worse.”
“We wanted help from the government to see us through this rough patch but instead what we have got are plans to decimate our livelihood.”
The Tahr Foundation Change.org petition, which asks DOC “to halt the 2020-21 tahr cull and review the Himalayan Tahr Control Plan”, has attracted nearly 40,000 signatures following its launch last week.
Tahr Foundation spokesperson, Willie Duley, said the campaign has the support of tourism operators who “stand to lose significant income just when they need it most because of the Covid crisis.”
DOC operations director, Dr Ben Reddiex, confirmed judicial review proceedings have been filed by the NZ Tahr Foundation, but added that “as the matter is before the court and DOC is respecting the court process, we can’t provide further comment at this time.”
He said that DOC finalised and approved its Tahr Control Operational Plan for 2020/2021 last week. It identifies how DOC will implement the statutory Himalayan Thar Control Plan 1993, and focuses on:
DOC also has the support of the New Zealand Conservation Authority (NZCA) which said it “strongly supports the Department of Conservation’s Tahr Control Operational Plan 2020-2021, and gives full support to the implementation National Parks Act’s policy of extermination of tahr, as far as possible, from the Aoraki/Mt Cook and Westland Tai Poutini National Parks.”
Duley said that the Give A Little page set up to help fund the Tahr Foundation’s legal battle has raised nearly $70,000 to date.
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