Game Animal Council Condemns Threats by Anti 1080 Group

“Those making threats to people’s lives, to aircraft and to contaminate our meat and milk should be pursued with the full force of the law and brought to justice” said Don Hammond, Chairman of the Game Animal Council.

The Game Animal Council is the statutory body that represents hunters’ interests in the sustainable management of New Zealand’s game animals for recreation, commerce and conservation.

A letter containing these threats has been sent to the Department of Conservation and Fairfax Media Group. In that letter the perpetrators have branded themselves as representatives of the hunting community.

“This could not be further from the truth” said Don Hammond. “The nature of the threats gives us a pretty good idea about what type of people wrote this letter and they are certainly not representative of the vast majority of law abiding New Zealand hunters”.

For most hunters it is about putting food on the table and, together with opportunities for tourism and farming, hunting is a major part of New Zealand life. The hunting community is a significant contributor to conservation in New Zealand. In Fiordland alone, hunters have spent over $700,000 and have donated 1152 days labour, making possible 2 million trapping nights that have killed over 1500 stoats and 1200 rats, thus saving the lives of hundreds of thousands of native birds.

We will provide any help we can to identify and apprehend those responsible for the actions already taken and for making these threats since they threaten the future for hunting in New Zealand.

ENDS

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