Farmers say secret goose cull a failure

FARMERS and hunters have become unlikely bedfellows, united in their opposition to a Canada geese cull carried out by Wellington Fish and Game on Lake Wairarapa last Friday.
Wairarapa Federated Farmers president Jim Weston yesterday spoke out in support of the game hunters who have decried Fish and Game's mass slaughter of the birds, saying he now believes the management of Canada geese should be taken out of the hands of the organisation.
Mr Weston said the cull was a "desperate and pathetic attempt" to curry favour with Conservation Minister Chris Carter and was not the way to deal with birds that wreak havoc on farmland.
He said rounding up and slaughtering birds as a one-off would not control bird numbers.
Mr Weston said the cull achieved nothing. The best way was for the birds to be taken off a game bird protection list so that farmers and hunters alike could shoot them throughout the year.
He said that being realistic, Canada geese would always survive but that the population could be controlled much more effectively if the farmers' calls were heeded.
Fish and Game supposedly culled around 760 Canada geese last week in a helicopter find-and- destroy mission, using shotguns to blast the birds away.
There is conjecture on whether steel or lead shot was used, but confirmation of either is not forthcoming from Fish and Game, which tried to carry out the mission in secret and has been tight-lipped about it even after the event.
Federated Farmers is also asking what became of a promised review of the true Canada geese situation in Wairarapa.
Mr Weston said the review was supposed to be in the hands of Mr Carter months ago but as far as could be ascertained it has never seen the light of day. "We intend to force them to do it."
He said it was now clear Fish and Game don't know what they are doing regarding Canada geese in Wairarapa, and instead "pretend" to be doing something to head off criticism and to satisfy the ministry.
Meanwhile, farmers, particularly in North Wairarapa where the problem was just as bad, repeatedly took the law into their own hands, Mr Weston said.
"At least as many Canada geese were shot illegally in North Wairarapa last year as were culled on the lake."
Mr Weston said the birds should have the same level of protection as rabbits ? none at all.
They were "messy, destructive and filthy" birds that could lay waste to paddocks overnight, destroying the grass and leaving behind them a sea of muck.