Brumby capture trialled

Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 10, Issue 475, 2 March 1993, Page 1

Brumby capture trialled

Conservation Minister Denis Marshall has decided that the Kaimanawa wild horse herd - in the central North Island - must be managed at sustainable levels and says he has asked the Director General of the Department of Conservation to organise a pilot programme to determine the practicability of live capture as a management tool. "The hardy, free-rang-ing Kaimanawa wild horses have a special place in New Zealand.' Their future has been the subject of considerable debate, which has led to wide acceptance that the herd has to be managed in the long term interests of both horses and the considerable natural values of the area. Ninety-five percent of public submissions received on a draft management strategy released in June 1991 support managing the herd," said Mr Marshall. "The herd has increased from about 175 in 1981 to a figure likely to be around 1,700 today.

Clearly that rate of increase cannot be sustained. The difficult decision that has to be taken concerns the method of control and that decision has to be taken for the long-term good of the herd as well as the ecology of the area." "I have sought advice from a range of interested parties, including a meeting of equine and animal welfare experts. Having made the substantive decision that the numbers must be controlled, I want to be assured that the most humane method acceptable in the New Zealand culture is used to achieve optimum numbers." Pilot project "While I have received advice that shooting was the most humane method of control, I want to fully explore the live capture option. Experience in Australia and in New Zealand earlier this century, suggests that capturing the horses can be successful and humane if Turn to page 2

Kaimanawa horse capture to be tried

From page 1 the relevant expertise is applied. I have asked the Animal Ethics Committee to draw up guide-lines for a pilot live capture project, which will be supervised by that committee."

The Animal Ethics Committee is an independent body set up to advise the Department of Conservation. It includes representatives of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and the

Veterinary profession. "I must stress, that if the live capture pilot is not successful, the increasing dangers the horses pose to the natural values of the area, travellers on State Highway 1 and the Tongariro National Park across the highway mean that the ground shooting option must be revisited." Mr Marshall said that interest in live capture had been signalled by several interests, including landowners in the central North Island, a hunt club and a riding school. He added that his management options came down to decreasing the area in which the horses are protected, or managing the herd within the existing area. He had decided on the latter. Looking to the longer term, the minister said he was interested in developments in the United States which could lead to humane stabilisation of the wild horse herd once a sustainable level had been reached.

Contraception "Work is being done on a proposal to determine how immuno-con-traception techniques already developed and others which are being developed, can be applied in New Zealand. I hope that New Zealand research into both immuno -contraception and delivery techniques will be underway later this year. I am

hopeful that this research will assure the future of a viable population of Kaimanawa wild horses and minimise the impact on the natural values of their habitat," said Mr Marshall. The wild horses of the southern Kaimanawas were given legal protection, under the Wildlife Act, in 1981 after concern that the population

was threatened with extinction. , A 1979 census estimated the population at 174, with horse numbers declining because of shooting or capture. Since being protected the population has grown to an estimated 1,700. The annual rate of increase is in the region of 20 percent. It has been estimated that their numbers

could reach 2,200 by next year if no action is taken. The horses are listed by the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations as a special herd of genetic value. Botanical information indicates that up to 32 species of plants are being adversely affected bv the horses.