Federated Farmers/Government 'Goof' Over Canada Geese

Federated Farmers in league with the Minister of Conservation have created a ludicrous situation over Canada geese says the Sporting Hunters' Outdoor Trust (SHOT).

A spokesman for SHOT, Bud Jones of Eketahuna, was commenting on a recent report in a Central South Island newspaper of Federated Farmers NZ's plea for government to fund "control measures". Earlier Federated Farmers had successfully pleaded with government to change the status of Canada geese from "game bird" to "pest."

"The reclassification of Canada geese from a game bird to be managed, to vermin, obediently done by Minister of Conservation at the urging of Federated Farmers was an archaic step back in time," said Bud Jones. “The result of this has become a round robin of ludicrous circular thinking and passing the parcel to the tax payer for funding”.

Canada geese in other parts of the world are regarded as a magnificent game bird to be managed. Canada geese could have remained under their previous statutory category of game birds with land owners given the right to take what management control measures they desired on their own land coupled with a communication network and coordinated invitation for sporting shooters to assist as well.

"Instead the Minister of Conservation foolishly turned the bird into a pest by a stroke of the pen," said Bud Jones. The Canada geese mismanagement "reeked of hypocrisy." "Federated Farmers has traditionally been strongly opposed to subsidies. Now it wants a subsidy from government using taxpayers' money to deal with a situation it has created," he said.

Bud Jones suspected the Federated Farmers lobby to make Canada geese a pest was simply spiteful, vindictive revenge on Fish and Game NZ for its "dirty dairying" campaign and its high country court challenge re property rights.

He said in his opinion, there had been serious flaws in Fish and Game's public relations approach to issues such as dirty dairying and the high country court challenge could have had better judgment. But the spite of Federated Farmers NZ's "tit for tat" strategy on Canada geese was puerile.

The ironic twist to the Canada geese issue was previously hunters had been implementing management at no cost to the taxpayer, plus contributing and generating consumer spending in pursuit of sport, but now Federated Farmers wanted a subsidy from the taxpayer.

ENDS

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