Guns Claim 95% of Tahrs

Cape Argus (Cape Town)

June 10, 2004
John Yeld

About 95% of the Table Mountain tahrs have been shot dead in the past month, and an SPCA observer says the killings appear to have been humane.

With 109 animals dead and winter closing in, SA National Parks has called off the culling for now.

Earlier this week, SPCA observer Rick Allan accompanied a marksman up Devil's Peak and watched as he shot four tahrs dead, reporting that all four animals were killed humanely with head shots.

One of the objections to the tahr culling by animal lovers is the fear that many would be wounded and left to suffer on the mountain.

Four marksmen - two from the Kruger National Park and one each from the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park and the Greater Addo National Park - have been on the mountain since the middle of last month when SA National Parks announced it was resuming the shooting.

On Tuesday, Allan, manager of the SPCA's national wildlife unit, accompanied a marksman and three field rangers up the mountain.

"The rangers were the look-out guys, watching for hikers, and also to spot the animals," he said.

Before the team went out, Allan watched the marksman demonstrate his skills at a shooting range.

Allan said he had witnessed the shooting of four tahrs in a group of seven animals. "They were all basically head shots, and that's about it," he said. "It appears to be humane, but we will go up again."

In a formal statement later, Allan said: "Our objective is to ensure that the removal of the Himalayan tahr is achieved through humane means. What was observed today satisfied our criteria."

The resumption of the culling followed the dismissal by agreement in April of the Cape High Court interdict application brought against SA National Parks by the Friends of the Tahr group. The tahrs are aliens and SA National Park is legally obliged to remove alien species in terms of national legislation and international conventions.

The Friends group no longer exists, but some animal lovers remain critical of the culling operation.

Before the shooting resumed - after a four-year delay - there were estimated to be between 100 and 150 tahrs on the mountain.

During the operation, SA National Parks declined to say how many tahrs had been shot, citing a death threat to Table Mountain National Park manager Brett Myrdal and abusive messages to his staff as reasons for not giving a "score card".

Chief executive David Mabunda said after Tuesday's exercise: "We are happy the SPCA has had the opportunity to observe this operation, as their sanction will serve to underscore our belief that we are acting in the most humane way possible under the circumstances."

Allan said it had been "very difficult" to find tahrs on the mountain. "It's not that easy, we were on rock ledges and so on."

The animals had not immediately fled after the first shot, although they had been "skittish".

"The tahrs did move but not very far away, and the marksman was very quick - he had dispatched two before they knew what was happening."

Allan said his understanding was the culling would be stopped for the wet winter months.

"It is treacherous up there, and they will leave it alone until the weather gets warmer. Basically they will not do any more until the next rutting season."