NEW ZEALAND FOR DEER OR MANKIND?

Forest and Bird, Issue 35, 1 February 1935, Page 14

NEW ZEALAND FOR DEER OR MANKIND?

The Vital Factor of Forests.

Recently several New Zealand newspapers published an article with the following impressive headings: "Menace of Deer—Huge Herds Seen —Forest Suffers Severely—Extermination of Pest Urged.” The district concerned was around the headwaters of the Hopkins River, at the back of Lake Ohau, Canterbury. Statements of the havoc wrought by deer in that

region were given by Messrs. R. H. Booth (New Zealand Alpine Club), H. McD. Vincent and D. Minson (Canterbury Mountaineering Club). On one flat of about ten acres they saw more than fifty deer. On the return journey they counted 182 deer along a tenmile stretch of riverflats. They said that in one locality “they could have mown down a hundred or so with a machine-gun without any stalking.” “The ravages of the deer were only too obvious,” the report continues. “The beech forests were riddled with miles of deer

tracks. There was no new seedling growth. The bush was in a state of absolute degeneration. Tracks traversed every bluff above the bush level. For some time the climbers were puzzled by great patches of turf torn from the earth on the steep slopes until they discovered that they had been uprooted by stags attempting to rid themselves of their season’s antlers. Those turf-denuded patches were the obvious cause of slips. At the Waitaki Power Station concern was expressed at the degeneration of the beech forests because of the effect on the Waitaki

watershed. The opinion was expressed that unless the Government took effective action to preserve the bush by sending deerkillers into the watersheds, heavy flooding of the Waitaki would become a problem for the future.” In contrast with that article —which should encourage the Government authorities to intensify the campaign against deer—another one was published in other papers, with the followingheadings: “Deer in South —A Valuable Heritage —Famous Hunter’s Views —Control Methods Attacked.” The hunter is Mr. H. Frank Wallace, who seeks gun-play in many countries. In his view New Zealand is not a country that should produce food and other necessaries for mankind, but rather one that should give good stalking sport to comparatively few hunters. In his book “Big Game: Wanderings in Many Lands,” Mr. Wallace remarks:—“The Government were apparently influenced in their decision by the agitation of people who knew nothing about the real conditions and by ‘crank’ societies. These drew lurid pictures of the destruction done by deer to trees and the danger to native-bird life.” Sport-minded casual visitors, such as Mr. Wallace, who attach greater importance to stalking than to a whole country’s welfare, persistently ignore the fact that New Zealand’s forests are totally different from those in other countries where deer have been controlled by natural enemies. The native forests in New Zealand evolved without deer to worry them. The trees, shrubs and soil surface are not of a nature to withstand the onsets of deer. It is the commonsense duty of all members of Parliament — particularly Ministers of the Crown —and of all other New Zealanders interested in the present and future welfare of the country to wage war vigorously against deer, particularly during the rutting season.