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This is from an email I received from Commercial Goats UK list.
Subject: On warmwell today
December 26 2007 ~ "There are feral strains that are of historical and scientific interest, such as the Arapawa goats..." Conservation Society of New Zealand
Arapawa Island goats - doomed to be culled in January - are believed to be descendants of the Old English goats that died out in the UK during the severe winter of 1954. There are, worldwide, no more than 360.
Recognising that the Arapawa goat is a separate breed of goat and not a crossbred feral, the Committee of the Rare Breeds Conservation Society of New Zealand gave and approved the goats "rare breed priority" listing at its meeting of 27 May 2004. However, the new Minister for Conservation, Stephanie Chadwick, sees them - not as a unique genetic resource - but as vermin. In connection with her scheme for removing all "pests" from other islands she recently spoke of "restoring the islands and repopulating them with rare native species..." - a sort of ethnic cleansing of fauna to preserve the flora. (The goats nibble the trees and bushes but do not destroy them. See http://www.jennessfarm. com/ArapawaGoats )
We are told that between January 7th and 25th January the Arapawa Island goats are to be shot. If you share our dismay, please read more.
Subject: On warmwell today
December 26 2007 ~ "There are feral strains that are of historical and scientific interest, such as the Arapawa goats..." Conservation Society of New Zealand
Arapawa Island goats - doomed to be culled in January - are believed to be descendants of the Old English goats that died out in the UK during the severe winter of 1954. There are, worldwide, no more than 360.
Recognising that the Arapawa goat is a separate breed of goat and not a crossbred feral, the Committee of the Rare Breeds Conservation Society of New Zealand gave and approved the goats "rare breed priority" listing at its meeting of 27 May 2004. However, the new Minister for Conservation, Stephanie Chadwick, sees them - not as a unique genetic resource - but as vermin. In connection with her scheme for removing all "pests" from other islands she recently spoke of "restoring the islands and repopulating them with rare native species..." - a sort of ethnic cleansing of fauna to preserve the flora. (The goats nibble the trees and bushes but do not destroy them. See http://www.jennessfarm. com/ArapawaGoats )
We are told that between January 7th and 25th January the Arapawa Island goats are to be shot. If you share our dismay, please read more.