Horse society resigned to Kaimanawa culling plan

Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 13, Issue 618, 28 December 1995, Page 1

Horse society resigned to Kaimanawa culling plan

By

Rachei

. Williams

It is now generally accepted that the Department of Conservation will adopt a high culling rate as part of the future management of the Kaimanawa -wild horses. The Kaimanawa Wild Horses Preservation Society Incorporated gathered in Waiouru earlier this month for a guided tour of the wild horses range with Army Training Group land manager John Mangos. Members said it was a good opportunity for the society to meet each other and view the horses and their habitat on a fine sunny day. Afterwards members met to discuss the "Plan for the Management Of the Kaimanawa Wild Horses" which a Department of Conservation working party has just completed. The. future of the Kaimanawa wild horses now depends on Denis Marshal's acceptance of the plan. Details of the plan will not be available until the minister has signed, but it is widely tipped that the plan will favour a high culling rate. Exhaustive consultation with all interested parties was carried out by DoC. It is generally accepted that the ecosystem, irr which the horses live, is fragile and cannot support an expanding population of horses. Contention has arisen in the past over the method of population control of the horses. New methods discussed by DoC in the second Kaimanawa Wild Horses Draft Management Strategy, dated May 1995, include: mustering for live sale and/or abattoir sale; shooting the horses from a helicopter; shooting them from the ground; and immuno-contraception. In the past herds have been culled by mustering, where the cost of transport and killing can be partially offset by selling the meat as pet food, thanks to the Biosecurities Act which redefined the horses as "game". Horses have been sold to members of the public for the purposes of riding, breeding, or preservation and some have also ended up on the rodeo circuit. The ideal population of the horses is another bone of contention. Every option is fraught with debate with different opinions held by the Army at Waiouru (most of the horses are on Army land), DoC, the SPCA, the Tum to Page 2

Horse society resigned to cull

FROMPAGE1 Kaimanawa Wild Horses Preservation Society Incor-

porated, Royal Forest and Bird, The International League For The Protection

Of Horses, and the public. An altemati ve to the regular culling of the herd lies in immunocontraception trials being carried out by Dr Clare Veltman, a wildlife scientist from Massey University. Immuno-contra-ception, injected into a mare, is expected to immunise her from a stallion's sperm for two ovulations. The behaviour of the mares injected and the bands they belong to has being monitored since June when they were treated, and will continue to be monitored until next spring, when they would normally foal. The success of the experiment would depend on being able to control the population of the horses and put an end to the cullings which some of the public are so adverse to.

One of the aims of the Kaimanawa Wild Horses Preservation Society Inc. is to preserve and protect the wild horses, not only in the wild but also in captivity. The society hopes to register the horses as a breed, and says it is New Zealand' s only chance of having its own breed. Blood analysis has shown that the Kaimanawa horses have not adapted genetically to the harsh environment they live in, but none-the-less owners of Kaimanawa Horses say they are very different from domestic horses. The main physical difference is that many of the horses are actually ponies. When observed at close range (from the road through Army land) the horses are sleek and fat

from the lush spring grass, yet they do not founder as domestic ponies in similar circumstances would. Owners also report them to be highly intelligent and very inquisitive. One Kaimanawa horse that was bom into captivity will walk onto the owner's veranda if it's given the chance. In recognition of the unique character of the horses, society member Sarah Hullena has established a register of owners which is proving to be a valuable network. Although details of the plan have not been made public yet, the Kaimanawa Wild Horses Preservation Society believes the plan for the management of the Kaimanawa horses will result in the herd being culled back to 500 and reduce the land area they currently roam from 72,000 to 18,000 hectares. The society also holds grave fears that shooting the horses from a helicopter or from the ground could result in horses being shot and only wounded then left to die, orphaned foals starving, and the social structure in the bands in which the horses live being upset.