Too Many or Not Enough
Over the last couple of months, we have heard a lot of rumours about what is happening with the tahr and in this article I will outline what I know. Things have been changing fast, so bear that in mind.
If you don’t know about the Tahr Control Plan, find the document on the DoC website: www.doc.govt.nz/about-us/science-publications/conservation-publications/threats-and-impacts/animal-pests/himalayan-thar-control-plan-1993. This plan was established in the early 1990s at a time when the tahr herd was just recovering from massive commercial onslaught. The population was estimated to have been around 30,000 during its peak in the 1950s-60s and then the combination of government control and WARO all but decimated the herd by the 1980s.
We can thank the NZDA for fighting hard during this time to slow down this slaughter. There was a moratorium put in place in 1983, but by this time the price had already dropped out of the commercial recovery. As I understand it, the herd was reduced to as few as 1500-2000 animals during this time, and we are very lucky the price dropped and/ or the government didn’t step in and finish them off.
By the early 1990s the herd had grown back to around 10-11,000
