Professional deer cullers in East Harbour Regional Park (11 Aug – 19 Sept)
August 11 - September 19
Greater Wellington Regional Council have contracted professional deer cullers who will be hunting in East Harbour Regional Park Northern Forest between 11th August & 19th September. Hunters will be only hunting when weather conditions are conducive to hunting. There will be 13 days of actual hunting in the period. No hunting will be undertaken on weekends, public holidays or school holidays. Hunting will on occasion be occurring at night. The EHRP website will be updated daily as the hunter communicate their plans to me. Please feel free to text me at 021771730 if you are unsure.
Please report deer sightings – include date of sighting, species, number, specific location, activity and photos are always useful – contact me at 021771730, (text is good) or zane.gillgren@gw.govt.nz
There is also an opportunity to undertake culling on private property. Written permission is required for the hunter to cross onto private land. This year’s contract allows private hunting under the GWRC contract on a cost recovery basis. Cost will be $70 per hour of hunting time with a minimum of 3 hours. There is no guarantee of shooting an animal. Contact Zane Gillgren at 021771730, or zane.gillgren@gw.govt.nz – to discuss culling on private land.
Professional hunters with knowledge of the area and the skills required to operate in the sensitive environment are being employed by GWRC to hunt deer prone areas of the Northern Forest block for wild deer and signs of their presence.
Members of the public using the area will be advised to stay on the main sign-posted walking tracks and to keep dogs on leads. Warning signs erected at all park entrances will be used to notify the users of the area.
The culling is necessary to minimise the impact of deer on the ecological values of the forest, which has been identified as an area of high biodiversity value by GWRC’s Biodiversity department. Heavy browsing of favoured plant species by deer can eliminate individual native species from an area resulting in the loss of diversity and functionality of the forest ecosystem. Reducing wild deer numbers will assist GWRC in their efforts towards restoring the native ecosystem functions of the Northern Forest.
