PRESS RELEASE:
24 APRIL 2007
ALL MEDIA

EW Blows Up Map of Kiwi Sanctuary

Conservationists who farm more than 15,000 acres on the upper Coromandel today notified the Department of Conservation in Thames that their properties are located outside the department`s Moehau Kiwi Sanctuary (MKS).

The notifications to DOC mean that the MKS is reduced by over 40% in area, and its map resembles a Swiss cheese. Additional withdrawals are expected.

The twenty farming families acted in direct response to a sweeping expansion of wild animal control powers announced by Environment Waikato (EW) in its draft regional pest management strategy and follow-up statements by EW officials in recent weeks.

The Moehau Kiwi Sanctuary (MKS) is an informal label used to identify an operational area where these same residents, together with community groups and DOC, have been working cooperatively and voluntarily for years on a range of pest initiatives. There is no statutory or regulatory basis for the kiwi zone. There was no formal consultation process before its establishment, and no permissions were either sought or granted for inclusion.

Of concern to landowners are EW plans to inspect and monitor all properties, without consent and particularly in kiwi sanctuaries, and to order destruction of any wild pig populations down to whatever level council chooses and by whatever means it deems most cost effective, including poisons.

Farmers point out they have successfully controlled wild pigs for generations at no cost whatsoever to the regional ratepayers. They also are active in possum and stoat control, in many cases at their own expense.

According to Reihana Robinson, spokesperson for the Upper Coromandel Landcare Association, `EW with its new pest strategy has blown up the Moehau Kiwi Sanctuary. But our commitment to environmental and conservation efforts in and around Moehau is ongoing.`

Northern Coromandel residents have been informed that farmers located in other so-called kiwi sanctuaries on the peninsula are planning similar action.

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