The estimated population had reached 35,000, she said, way above the department's control plan which permitted tahr numbers to reach only 10,000. Hamstrung by budget cuts, and distracted by a massive restructuring, it made no serious attempts at assessing tahr numbers for years. FOCUS ON VEGGIE PLOTSDOC had hoped to rely on measurements of tussock grassland plots as a cheaper way to estimate tahr numbers. The Landcare Research-commissioned paper noted this "large uncertainty" and that its analysis was unable to meet the aims of the tahr control plan. REDUCING TIME IN THE SHOOTER'S SEATThat sentiment's echoed in a prominent grey box in the Canterbury Conservancy's tahr control plan for the 2012-13 year.

Source: Stuff March 13, 2019 02:03 UTC