Feral Ungulates in New Zealand

Feral Ungulates in New Zealand
17-01-2008

I recently read a book called "The Modern Ark" by an American called Vicki Croke in which she claims that Pere David's Deer are among the species farmed for venison in N.Z. I'm sceptical about that. Can anyone confirm or deny?

If so, is the species in any N.Z. zoos?

I have also heard that in the past ungulates such as chamois, moose and Himalayan tahr were released for hunting in the south island. I know that tahr are still going strong. How about the others? Any other feral exotics in N.Z., and can we have some please? (As N.Z's quarantine laws are as strict or more so than Australia's, I can't see why Aus. would refuse import, apart from spurious ideological reasons, driven by Animal Lib.)

17-01-2008

Tahr and Chamois are doing well. Moose were introduced but did not continue to survive. I think the last one was shot in the 50's. I dont know about the Pere David's Deer. I am sure our NZ members will give more details.

17-01-2008

Hello Ara,

I've been to Auckland, Hamilton and Wellington Zoo's and have never seen Tahr or Pere's deer... I can confirm Tahr are still strong in the wild, a couple of guys from my last job at NZ Customs used to hunt them 2 or so times a year, quite legally, I think they are in the SI only...

Chlidonias is the resident NZ animal expert and should be able to answer all these questions...

18-01-2008

I put a list of introduced vertebrates here: http://www.zoobeat.com/2/nz-wildlife...16/index2.html

tahr are well-established in a specific area of the Southern Alps (this is the mountain chain that runs down the spine of the South Island), especially around the Mt. Cook region. They are one of the few introduced mammals that could fairly easily be exterminated with a concerted effort (but the hunting lobbyists wouldn't allow it). Chamois are very widespread throughout the Southern Alps. Both species are detrimental to the alpine environment. I've only ever seen a chamois once in a zoo, and that was a young one at Willowbank in Christchurch many years ago. Tahr are actually kept on a few farms round the South Island, and I've seen them here and there in little private collections (places like country cafes often have a paddock or two for the sake of the tourists, with tame tahr, deer, wallabies, that sort of thing). They used to be at Orana Park years ago.

As for Pere David's deer, I have also read that they are (or have been attempted to be)farmed in NZ but I'm also sceptical. I've never seen them anywhere in NZ. I can't remember the book I read it in but I think it was a NZ book on introduced mammals (I'll have a dig around at home), so that was probably where Vicki Croke got it from.

I can't see any problems with Australia getting introduced mammals from NZ. We've sent over a whole bunch of wallabies from Kawau Island, and I'm pretty sure tahr and chamois have gone over as well at some stage in the past. If you want your possums back, you can have them too.

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18-01-2008

found out about the Pere David's deer: in 1984-5 seventy-seven Pere David's deer were imported to NZ for farming purposes. Most died of malignant catarrhal fever. Experiments were carried out on hybridisation with red deer, resulting in 16 F1 hybrids between 1986 and 1991, which were used to produce over 400 maternal back-crosses. These crosses are apparently unlikely to ever be used in farming because they have proved hard to establish. In 2001 there were twenty pure Pere David's deer left in the country, all at the Mt. Hutt station in Canterbury.

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20-01-2008

Are there any chamois, tahr or Pere Davids deer in any of the major zoos in New Zealand?

20-01-2008

I don't believe so. There are definitely no Pere David's deer in zoos here (in fact deer in general are pretty thin on the ground in NZ zoos despite there being several species readily available from both the wild and farm stock). I don't think there are any chamois or tahr in the major zoos either, but tahr at least are kept in several smaller wildlife parks

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01-02-2008

I just found a site with more info on the NZ moose. The last moose bull was shot in 1971 and he had a cow and calf with him at the time.
New Zealand Wildlife Research Trust - A Wild Moose Chase
From what I have read it deos seem possable they still exist in small numbers.

02-02-2008

That's an interesting read. In the video still from 1995 the colour and body shape of the obscure animal looks more like Moose than Red Deer to me. It seems that the DNA'd moose hair in the other photo proves there was still at least one survivor in 2000.

02-02-2008

I've seen the shots from the camera trap and I agree they do look like moose. Very long legs and lanky gait, nothing like red deer.

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05-02-2008

if they do find moose in NZ i hope they eradicate them.

but somehow i think they will do the opposite.....

05-02-2008

they'll be like "oh my god, moose still here, quick put a no-hunting order on them, we need to get their numbers up, then all the hunters will pay heaps of money to come here and shoot them. Money money money!"

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05-02-2008

I also forgot about about White Tail Deer. There is a population on Stewart Island and another somewhere near Queenstown.

I hope if they find Moose the population is managed to ensure it survives, if it has survived this long. This includes alowing controled hunting. If they exist what damage are they doing, they carnt be blamed for environmental damage if we carnt even prove they exist.