Today's AP Wire story

[davelandefeld]

This was in the San Jose Mercury News today.
There was a thread about this awhile ago. They were using AR-15's from helicopters. (.223)</span>

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/14150344.htm</span></span>

 

[Franklin3]

I still say it's a complete waste of taxpayer money.

 

[spectr17]

4800 pigs they claim to have whacked. That's a lot of piggies

 

[PIGIG]

at 2k per pig someone is having a good time

 

[Backcountry]

I'm so mad that the state is PAYING a private company to shoot these pigs that I'm almost willing to side with the devil on this one (i.e., the so-called animal rights activists).

 

[HOGHUNTER714]

This issue just chaps my hide. 4,800 pigs is a lot of pork. I cant belive CA would even agree to go about ridding the pigs from the Island in that manner. The DFG could of put something together to let hunters benefit from the problem over there. Just a plain waste.....

 

[Backcountry]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (HOGHUNTER714 @ Mar 21 2006, 08:01 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div>

The DFG could of put something together to let hunters benefit from the problem over there. Just a plain waste.....[/b]

Couldn't agree more... this should make every JHO'er all the more thankful for the way the United States Army Corp. of Engineers and Ranger Joel have opened up Lake Sonoma to bowhunters.



Honestly, it blows my mind that such a great opportunity is available (and it's free... Shhhhh...)

 

[sidepass]

Total waste of taxpayers money.Can't figure why a New Zealand company instead of American. Although allowing hunting and charging a small fee for managing the hunt would cost taxpayers nothing.

sidepass

 

[oneshothunter]

u guys want to get really pissed .. all meat killed goes to the dumps .. I have a buddy his job is to take pigs in areas that his employer <state of calif. >>> says to go to <up and down the calif coast > all meat taken witch is over 40 hogs a day all go in the local dump no meat saved .. witch is way bull---- he hates it but tree huggers rule the cal

 

[Rancho Loco]

I agree with it totally.

Pigs, goats, rats, cats will all *&^% an island ecosystem over. Hunters like us would never be able to do the job, no matter how good we all think we are.

Trap 'em, poison them, shoot them from the air, I don't care...This isn't about hunting or managing a game resource. It's about eradicating an invasive introduced species in a highly fragile environment.

Big thumbs up to the state in my book.

 

[larrysogla]

Rancho Loco,
There is still the question of why a New Zealand company instead of an American company. You and I know that there will be a lot of volunteers doing it for free to ride shotgun on the helicopter and pull the trigger on those .223 and we all know that some would even pay to have that kind of shooting experience. I know it is a day in, day out grind but lots of folks will certainly line up to do it for a paycheck. Heck I don't know if they can totally eradicate pigs to a zero population. I believe in another gobeermint owned island(San Clemente Island or San Miguel Island?????) they tried to eradicate the goats by shooting with hired shooters, but they just managed to control the numbers, not eradicate the goats. We all know that pigs are a non-native, invasive, disruptive species, but they are already here and we have pig tags sold by the goobermint to hunt the pigs. That means the goobermint has accepted the presence of pigs in the environment. The island ecosystem they say are fragile and cannot tolerate the destructiveness of the pigs. Well then let's see if they can eradicate down to zero the pig population. 'Nuff said.

 

[1Irishguy]

I have to agree that my main issue with all of this is the hiring of a non American company. Absolute BS. Especially considering the $$$ they are throwing at this effort.

 

[Rancho Loco]

Info on the company hired to do the eradication. Sounds like they know their sh!t.

________________________________________________________________________________
_

http://prohunt-nz.com/


Prohunt New Zealand Ltd is a company that specialises in habitat restoration, specifically removing browsing ungulates (goats, pigs, deer) from areas of high conservation values. Formed by Norm Macdonald and Kelvin Walker in the early 1990's Prohunt NZ Ltd has developed an international reputation for excellence due to the results of our restoration programs in New Zealand and for our overseas work in Australia and South America. Now with our subsidiary company Prohunt Inc based in California, our mission is to provide cost effective solutions to feral animal problems through out the world.

A large part of what makes Prohunt so successful is experience. With the better part of three decades of intensive animal control behind us and a desire to be the best, Prohunt is at the cutting edge of wild animal control technology. During the last 10 years Prohunt has completed over 450 wild animal operations in New Zealand for the Department of Conservation, Animal Health Board and various Regional Councils. During this time we have developed our own unique control methods, incorporating the latest technology to bring wild animal control into the new millennium. These advanced control techniques have been adopted by the Department of Conservation in New Zealand and are in use on eradication projects around the world.



Our core business is wild animal control At the heart of Prohunt is a team of expert hunters and pilots, amongst them specialists in aerial hunting, ground hunting with dogs (bailers and indicators) Judas and Sentinel animal work. They are amongst the very best hunters in New Zealand and the reason that our operational results are outstanding. So much so that Prohunt is the benchmark to which other operators in New Zealand are judged. Because of this and increasing overseas interest in eradicating invasive species from off shore islands, Prohunt staff have had the opportunity to travel to remote places to eradicate animals, as experts to train staff and give advice to various international conservation and government agencies. This has included Islands such as Lord Howe Island (Australia), Isabela Island (Galapagos), Guadalupe and Soccorro Island (Mexico), and most recently Coco's Island, off the coast of Costa Rica.

Helicopter component Prohunt is a licensed Part 135 Air Transport Operator specialising in conservation based aerial work. The helicopter's primary function is to maximise operational productivity during animal control and eradication projects, carrying out tasks such as aerial shooting and positioning hunters and dogs. The helicopter is fitted with a multi channel radio tracking receiver and specially developed antenna which we use in conjunction with our judas/ sentinel animal programs and for tracking endangered species. This equipment is the most advanced in the north island, and the only one to be New Zealand Civil Aviation approved for helicopter use in NZ.

Quality Assurance Prohunt is very serious about our reputation and customer satisfaction. We are an ISO 9000/ 2000 registered company. Our quality manual is specifically written for wild animal projects and against which Prohunt gets audited annually by Telarc. We adopted ISO 9000 to give our prospective customers assurance that Prohunt is totally committed to performing to the highest standard at all the times, and we have systems inplace to ensure that all aspects of our operation come under close scrutiny with built in checks to make sure we get it right first time.

SERVICES
· Feral goat control · Feral goat eradication · Feral pig control · Feral pig eradication · Feral deer capture and control · Judas and Sentinel animal programs · Animal survey
HELICOPTER
· Aerial shooting · Live capture · Radio telemetry · Aerial mustering
CONSULTANCY
· Eradication/ control plans Please call if you need some more information.

 

[Shot]

There is a endangered fox (can't recall the name) on the island. And since the pigs have been introduced they have been destroying their habitat. So I don't have a problem of getting the pigs off the island. Now here is the problem. The New Zealand company said that they can only kill 97-98% of the pigs. If there are only two pigs left they will spread like wild fire, so the whole deal would be a waste.

Now here is another problem. The ecologist introduced an hawk (can't recall the name either) which used to live on the Islands. But it back fired because the hawks started to feed on the small foxs that they dearly were trying to save.

 

[Metdawg44]

You watch, after the Government spends the 5 mil (and that doesn't count the costs of lawyers to defeat the lawsuit by the activists), they will have found out that a couple of wily o' pigs gave em' the slip. And guess what, they will begin to build up their population again and the Government suits will just scratch their heads, and other body parts.

 

[84toyota]

I don't know anything about the New Zealand company that was hired, but I do know that there are a number of New Zealanders who are used for capturing, collaring, and transplanting game in the U.S. The reason? They are good at it... They've done it A LOT. They have the equipment and the know-how... And it is in fact dangerous work, flying around in a helicopter, hanging out the side, strapped in by a little seat belt...

But I agree - it would have been nice to allow hunters more time to shoot some pigs. There is no way that hunters could totally wipe them out, but I don't think the helicopter will totally wipe them out either... I find it amazing how damaging humans can be... we created this problem by introducing the pigs... now, down the road, we're paying millions of dollars to try to fix it...

Ken

 

[ooja]

Are they going to remove the houses? Are they going to remove the orchards? I hear there is an airstrip...are they going to remove that too? Are they going to remove that old rotting dock sticking out of the north end? What about all the roads, are they going to remove them? The most invasive species on that island is man. If they want to remove species that were historically introduced to California when it was being settled, I have no problem, but if they are going to do it, they should do it all the way. Otherwise it is just a bunch of wiseacres who want to go to visit "their" island and see it the way they want it to be. I always wanted to kill an island boar, and island goats. It would be like reliving some of California's history to me, just as hunting wild boar in Central CA is like reliving history. I don't see the point in eradicating this species. They say it is for the good of the island fox and the little mice it eats, because the pigs bring Eagles to the islands that otherwise would not be there, and the eagles eat the baby pigs as well as the foxes...or some wierd relationship. Fine if they want to restore it to its prestine condition, fine, but don't stop at the dang pigs, remove all invasive evidence that MAN has ever been there since MAN brought the pigs and airstrips and orchards and all. Then don't let anyone ever see it, hike it, use it.

And the foxes and mice will be happy.

Do anything less, and it is just a case of some people wanting to see the island one way, and others (like some hunters here) wanting it to be another. Picture a rich yuppy flying in and landing on the strip, staying in a bunkhouse and driving around the island in a jeep watching foxes. Yeah really great return to its prestine condition.

I just want them to commit, to make up their minds for good and all, and to go all the way. Otherwise, I would rather see them leave it the way it was and add public hunting to regulate the pigs, the state can make money and the DFG would have one more decent hunting opportunity. That is something that is really going extinct in this state, reasonable public land hunting opportunities. To my knowledge they don't have any for exotics and have very few for ferral hogs.

Bottom line, remove all sign that man has ever been there, and don't ever allow man to be there again, or else this is all a big joke IMHO.

 

[Rancho Loco]

Sometimes it isn't about hunting...

 

[ooja]

I agree sometimes it is not about hunting.

Unless they remove everything, this was about hunting. It was about getting rid of hunters so others could enjoy the island they way they wanted it to be...not "the way it was before man screwed it up."

If we want to save those foxes, we better do what we did for the Barbados Ram. Move them out of there. Otherwise it is a small island, and they could die out very easily from a disease.

 

[Rancho Loco]

Ooja, respectfully - every argument you're making against eradicating the pigs is a red-herring...Yuppies, anti-hunters, airstrips, houses, etc.

These are not causing the problem at hand - the destruction caused by in invasive non-native species - feral pigs.

Now granted, after the pigs are dealt with, if the yuppies get out of hand, I'm all for trapping them out too.