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https://theconversation.com/despite-the-myth-deer-are-not-an-ecological-substitute-for-moa-and-should-be-part-of-nzs-predator-free-plan-187840>
"The impact of deer on Aotearoa New Zealand’s natural environment is never far
from the headlines. Most recently, the Southland Conservation Board highlighted
the damage the introduced species was doing to native forest on Rakiura Stewart
Island.
And despite the government including NZ$30 million for deer and goat control in
this year’s budget, the situation remains critical, with considerable
disagreement about the best solutions.
The Department of Conservation (DOC) is key to managing deer numbers, but has
been strongly criticised by the CEO of the independent Forest & Bird
organisation over the climate implications of its wild game animal management
framework:
When DOC publishes plans that talk about ‘improving the quality of game
animals’ it’s clear they’ve lost their way. Deer, pigs and goats are
wrecking native habitats and their stored carbon from the ground up.
On the other side, some hunters and anti-1080 pesticide activists are
vehemently opposed to large-scale deer culling.
And central to some of their arguments has been the idea that deer are actually
ecological surrogates for extinct moa – large herbivores that control plant
growth and keep forests “open”.
But this outdated and false argument ignores the latest evolutionary and
ecological research, and misrepresents the current state of scientific
evidence. Scientists have made significant progress and now know far more than
they did even ten years ago."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
