The Tahr Control Operational Plan for 2019-2020, which runs until 30 June 2020, has been released by the Department of Conservation.

The Game Animal Council supports the new plan, which aims to prevent the geographical spread of tahr outside the feral range, as well as targeting areas in Westland Tai Poutini and Aoraki/Mt Cook National Parks that will produce significant conservation benefits.

“The new plan has been developed in consultation with the Game Animal Council and others in the Tahr Liaison Group to reduce the number of tahr on public conservation land while protecting New Zealand’s world class tahr hunting opportunities,” says Game Animal Council Chair Don Hammond. “We look forward to working towards the objectives of the plan with DoC and other key stakeholders.”

“The Council wishes to acknowledge the work that DoC continues to do to provide information on the management work, including the number of tahr taken out of specific areas and where bulls have been sighted. It is pleasing that this is to continue in the new plan and that identifiable male tahr will again not be targeted in the control work.”

“The Game Animal Council hopes that over the next year more research can be done on the tahr herd, including how tahr can be managed to produce mature bulls for hunters while reducing adverse conservation impacts,” says Hammond.

The end objective is to produce a long-term sustainable management plan for tahr that will not require large-scale control operations.

The new Tahr Control Operational Plan is available here.

The NZ Game Animal Council is a statutory organisation responsible for the sustainable management of game animals and hunting for recreation, commerce and conservation.

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