TAHR 101

This proposed Plan is eradication in disguise. It WILL kill the tahr hunting resource as we know it, it WILL kill many jobs and people’s livelihoods, and it WILL kill a passionate recreational pursuit enjoyed by thousands.

WHAT ARE TAHR AND HOW DID WE END UP IN THIS SITUATION?

Himalayan Tahr, as their name suggests, are native to the Himalayas, where they are now considered a near threatened species. They are their own genus and species, neither sheep nor goat, world renowned and admired for their ability to live high in the harshest mountain environments and for their amazing shaggy winter coats, being one of the few animals in the world other than the lion to have a mane. They were first introduced to New Zealand, 116 years ago near Aoraki/Mt Cook by the Government Tourism board, for sport and to attract tourist hunters to New Zealand. Due to the absence of any predators (like the snow leopards that prey on them in the Himalayas), and the ideal mountain habitat provided by the Southern Alps, they thrived and spread to occupy today’s feral range from the Landsborough river in the south, to the Rakaia river in the north.

Tahr were protected through to 1937 when there was a change in policy that saw them culled by government ground hunters until a commercial market for their meat was established in the 1970’s. Commercial meat recovery by helicopters had nearly wiped out the entire tahr population by 1983. The government of the day prevented their