DOC To Wipe Out Historic Arapawa Goat Population

DOC set to wipe out historic Arapawa Goats after Xmas - Reconise them instead

New Zealand Deerstalkers' Association (NZDA) has joined the Rare Breeds Society of New Zealand in opposing DOC's proposed destruction of the unique Arapawa Island goat breed, early in the New Year. The Arapawa Island goats are a recognised unique breed, almost certainly released there by Captain James Cook on 2 June 1773 - see attached info from Cook's Diaries. Only a few are left now.

"It is distressing that DOC had chosen the holiday period to carry out a Search and Destroy mission on Arapawa Island with the intention of wiping out this historic herd" NZDA spokesman Dr Hugh Barr said. "New Zealand's historic introduced biodiversity is as important to us as our native biodiversity, under the Rio Convention on Biodiversity" Dr Barr said. "It is the basis of our agriculture, the industry on which most of our wealth as a nation depends. Very few native species have commercial value."

"Yet we have the Department of Conservation, paranoid about exterminating anything introduced to the country, irrespective of the Rio Convention on World Biodiversity that New Zealand is a signatory to. If the Kaimanawa Wild Horse herd can be recognised, then surely DOC has a duty to reconise this rare herd, now extinct in England" Dr Barr said.

NZDA is calling for the Government to halt DOC's extermination mission, and give due recognition to the very high historic significance of this rare breed, and as well, recognise them under the Rio Convention on Biological Diversity.

ENDS