Kereru Hunting

Forest and Bird, Volume 19, Issue 3, 1 August 1988, Page 9

Kereru Hunting

by

Mick Clout

Ke" have been a traditional quarry of the Maori for centuries. In pre-European times they were an important food and were hunted using specially designed snares and spears. The usual time for hunting was the miro fruiting season, and early accounts tell of thousands of kereru being taken by traditional methods at this time of year in the vast lowland forests that still existed until the latter part of last century. Traditional hunting required great skill, and the forests supported more than enough kereru to replace those that were killed. And then everything changed. Over a few decades the lowland forests were decimated by the axe and fire of the European settler, and bird populations were subjected to the triple assault of habitat loss, introduced mammals and the hunter’s gun. Kereru were especially sought after and they were so easy to shoot that dozens could be taken in a day by anyone able to handle a firearm. Both Maori and European settlers joined in the shotgun slaughter, and kereru populations nose-dived. Kereru became extinct on Norfolk Island and Raoul Island and the Chatham Island subspecies nearly suffered the same fate. The decline of mainland populations was also obvious and by 1896 a special Act was passed, setting closed seasons for hunting. The downward trend still continued and was not halted until total protection of kereru (and most other native birds) was established under the Animals Protection and Game Act of 1921. Since then there has been a slow recovery of kereru populations in most districts where patches of native forest remain, but it is noticeable that in those parts of the country where hunting still continues, kereru remain uncommon. The history of the past 150 years makes it very clear that kereru are extremely vulnerable to hunters with guns. The reason for this vulnerability is not just that kereru are an easy target. They are also relatively slow breeders, laying only one egg per nest and taking about 2% months from the laying of that egg to when the young bird leaves the nest. This slow breeding rate is made even worse by the fact that kereru do not necessarily breed every year. Radio-tracking studies by DSIR Ecology Division at Pelorus Bridge Scenic Reserve in Marlborough showed that kereru there nested in 1985, 1986 and 1988. However, there was a poor

season for fruiting of tawa (and other native trees) in 1987, and none of the local kereru nested that year. So far we have no idea how widespread or common these seasons without breeding are. The DSIR research at Pelorus Bridge has also shown that kereru there have to contend with rats preying on their eggs and stoats attacking adult birds. Only 5 out of 18 nesting attempts resulted in a successfully fledged young kereru, and several of the failures were caused by ship rats taking the egg. The loss of adult birds to predators is of even greater concern. In late 1987, five

out of 11 adult kereru bearing radiotransmitters died at Pelorus Bridge within a month. Four of these birds died in the same small area, where a flock of kereru had been regularly feeding in broom bushes, and the evidence pointed to all four having been killed by a stoat. It is possible that kereru populations in other parts of the country may be sufficiently productive to be able to withstand some hunting pressure. However, at Pelorus Bridge there are so few fledglings and so many deaths that this population could not survive if it was hunted. #&