News Archive

Mike Knight, a Pest Management Officer with the Northland Regional Council in Kaitaia, says several thousand wild goats are thought to be on the loose in the region.

However, with no natural predators and a low mortality rate, they can cause harm out of proportion to their actual numbers, especially on slip-prone hillsides where their eating habits can considerably worsen erosion.

Mr Knight says feral goats browse on young trees and understorey, causing erosion and affecting water quality. They can also have an economic impact as they can target young pines in plantations.

He says farmed and domestic goats must be contained within the boundaries of their owner’s property and the animals must be able to be identified either via ear tags or ear markings.

“Under the Wild Animal Control Act 1977, any goat that is not suitably identified and effectively contained is a ‘wild’ goat.”

Mr Knight says Northland’s wild goats are typically escaped animals and their offspring.

Goats usually breed in spring – producing two offspring - and it is often easier to hunt them at this time of year because of the noise the young animals make while playing.

He says Regional Council staff did an aerial cull for goats at the Purerua Peninsula near Kerikeri several months ago, shooting almost 260 of the animals in a roughly 120 hectare area.

“That area is one of three main hot spots for wild goats that we know of in Northland. The other two are in the South Hokianga on private land bordering Department of Conservation estate in the Wekaweka Valley area and in the Tangihua Ranges area near Whangarei.”

Council staff estimate there are hundreds of goats in a roughly 1000ha area in the Wekaweka area and a large number goats in a similar-sized area around the Tangihuas.

Mr Knight says anyone wanting to report wild goats should contact the Regional Council on freephone (0800) 002 004 and ask to speak to a Pest Management Officer.