PLACE FOR THE HAWK

Wairarapa Times-Age, 5 July 1941, Page 6

PLACE FOR THE HAWK

IN THE BALANCE OF NATURE. In the opinion of leading members of the Forest and Bird Protection Society, the Hon W. E. Parry’s advocacy of destruction of harrier hawks is based rather on the biassed short-sighted views of numbers of shootists than on knowledge of the hawks’ place in the balance of nature. A contributor to “Forest and Bird” (the quarterly magazine published by the Forest and Bird Protection Society) states that in California the marsh hawk, a very similar species to the harrier, has many enemies among men in the same way as the harrier hawk has in New Zealand, but. as the result of extensive investigation into the habit's, it is protected. Research has determined that it is beneficial to a high degree, as it keeps down such pests as rats, mice, ground squirrels and rabbits (a pest in California as well as in New Zealand). The editorial article in the magazine has this passage: “In New Zealand it has always been the practice to make decisions on wildlife matters without expert research and biological knowledge. Large sums have been spent on introducing many species, to be followed by more spending in making war on the introduced creature if it acclimatised itself and was considered by non-biologists to be harmful. Further large sums have been dissipated on the killing of predators, a practice which should not be permitted unless it is judged to be neces-

sary by trained biologists.” The society’s view is that the indiscriminate killing of harrier hawks should be checked until an accurate necessary survey of wild life has been made by fully-qualified experts. It is held that such an investigation may prove that sportsmen should regard the hawk as a natural agent working for them rather than against them.