The Country
  • The Country home
  • Latest news
  • Audio & podcasts
  • Opinion
  • Dairy farming
  • Sheep & beef farming
  • Rural business
  • Rural technology
  • Rural life
  • Listen on iHeart radio

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • Coast & Country News
  • Opinion
  • Dairy farming
  • Sheep & beef farming
  • Horticulture
  • Animal health
  • Rural business
  • Rural technology
  • Rural life

Media

  • Podcasts
  • Video

Weather

  • Kaitaia
  • Whāngarei
  • Dargaville
  • Auckland
  • Thames
  • Tauranga
  • Hamilton
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Tokoroa
  • Te Kuiti
  • Taumurunui
  • Taupō
  • Gisborne
  • New Plymouth
  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Dannevirke
  • Whanganui
  • Palmerston North
  • Levin
  • Paraparaumu
  • Masterton
  • Wellington
  • Motueka
  • Nelson
  • Blenheim
  • Westport
  • Reefton
  • Kaikōura
  • Greymouth
  • Hokitika
  • Christchurch
  • Ashburton
  • Timaru
  • Wānaka
  • Oamaru
  • Queenstown
  • Dunedin
  • Gore
  • Invercargill

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / The Country

Tahr Foundation apologises for They Are Us slogan in lobby video

RNZ
13 Jul, 2020 10:46 PM2 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save
    Share this article
Photo: Supplied / Department of Conservation
Photo: Supplied / Department of Conservation

Photo: Supplied / Department of Conservation

By Katie Todd of RNZ

The Tahr Foundation has apologised for any offence taken after adopting the slogan They Are Us.

The Department of Conservation plans to cull the introduced species at three times the level it has in past years to bring the population down to a more sustainable level and protect South Island flora and fauna.

Read More

  • Conservationists divided on tahr eradication plan - NZ Herald
  • New app to help hunters track tahr numbers during culling - NZ Herald
  • DoC must 'reconsider' tahr decision, but all parties satisfied - NZ Herald
  • Hunters say tahr cull could be challenged in court - NZ Herald

However, the foundation wants people to regard tahr as a special part of the country, because they have lived in New Zealand for more than a century.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Its latest campaign video was given the same name as the country's Quote of 2019, coined by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern to promote unity after the Christchurch mosque attacks.

The video was renamed What They Mean To Us after six hours online with thousands of views and shares.

Spokesman Willie Duley said the foundation was "completely unaware" the phrase was often used in reference to the mosque attacks.

"We did have a couple of people saying the 'we are us' term was linked quite close to the Christchurch tragedy and that some people might take offence to that. We clearly did not mean any offence, so we changed it immediately. The reason we used it was because, for many of us, tahr are part of the fabric of New Zealand. They're part of us. They are us," he said.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"We apologise wholeheartedly if there's any offence taken there."

Central to the video is the idea that tahr are "part of the fabric of society" since being introduced in 1904.

Conservationists said the same theory wasn't applied to rats, stoats, and other problematic pests, but Duley said "you've just got to be realistic".

"Are rats, stoats and other pests valued by people? Not really. Are tahr valued by people? Yes, by the thousand ... there's a $100 million hunting industry out there that draws a huge income from tahr."

Discover more

Other hunting options limited: Tahr Foundation

02 Jul 10:16 PM

Hunters question DoC on tahr plans

06 Jul 04:30 AM

Plan to cull tahr 'unlawful and unfair', High Court hearing told

08 Jul 08:35 PM

The Country - Wheat edition

09 Jul 01:00 AM

Earlier this year, Forest and Bird sought a High Court declaration claiming DoC's plan was illegal because it did not go far enough.

It declined to comment on the Tahr Foundation's video.

Save
    Share this article

Latest from The Country

The Country

How Sally plans to transform farm education for kids

The Country

Kiwifruit growers eye positive returns

The Country

Moo-dern Love: Using ChatGPT to breed better cows


Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Recommended for you

Bafta-winning actor charged with raping woman
Entertainment

Bafta-winning actor charged with raping woman

Murderer Julia Deluney's diaries: Bible verses, cryptocurrency and future plans
Wellington

Murderer Julia Deluney's diaries: Bible verses, cryptocurrency and future plans

'Required to arrest': Inside police's new retail-crime patrols
Hawkes Bay Today

'Required to arrest': Inside police's new retail-crime patrols

The challenge Scott Dixon faces in IndyCar title race
Motorsport

The challenge Scott Dixon faces in IndyCar title race

School roof collapse kills seven children, injures 26 in India
World

School roof collapse kills seven children, injures 26 in India

Outgoing Horizons chair says councils 'need to push back'
Whanganui Chronicle

Outgoing Horizons chair says councils 'need to push back'



Latest from The Country

How Sally plans to transform farm education for kids
The Country

How Sally plans to transform farm education for kids

Meet Sally Newall, 'vet, mother, farmer, writer, lover of animals and homesteader'.

25 Jul 05:00 PM
Kiwifruit growers eye positive returns
The Country

Kiwifruit growers eye positive returns

25 Jul 05:00 PM
Moo-dern Love: Using ChatGPT to breed better cows
The Country

Moo-dern Love: Using ChatGPT to breed better cows

25 Jul 05:00 PM


Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

06 Jul 09:47 PM

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
All Access. All in one subscription. From $2 per week
Subscribe now

All Access Weekly

From $2 per week
Pay just
$15.75
$2
per week ongoing
Subscribe now
BEST VALUE

All Access Annual

Pay just
$449
$49
per year ongoing
Subscribe now
Learn more
30
TOP
search by queryly Advanced Search