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RNZ News
2 hours ago
- RNZ News
Third-annual national wild goat hunting competition gets underway
Wild goats are are believed to occupy around 14 percent of Aotearoa. Photo: Supplied / Department of Conservation Hunters are targeting thousands of wild goats in a nationwide competition in efforts to protect farmland and the environment. Wild goats were prolific breeders that threatened native biodiversity, forests and farmland, and were believed to occupy around 14 percent of Aotearoa. The third-annual national wild goat hunting competition begins today, running into November. The Department of Conservation (DoC) and New Zealand Deerstalkers Association event aims to address the growing population of wild goats, estimated to be several hundred thousand. Association board member and its Hutt Valley branch president, Trev Gratton said in the first year they totalled 10,000 goats, 12,500 last year, and now they hoped to exceed that figure. "Goats are an issue throughout the country and it's something that we've identified along with our partners at DoC as something that we want to be involved in, with trying to help mitigate those numbers," he said. "They are a pest and they need to be managed. And one of the ways of doing that is looking holistically and working with partners within the community to actually start getting those numbers under control." Gratton said there were 5000 hectares of huntable private land it was working to get hunters onto this year for goat removal. He said its landowner assist plan will give both hunters and landowners like farmers confidence about the hunting operations in the coming months. "We've had a tremendous response from landowners from one end of the country," Gratton said. "Particularly when it comes to going onto private land like that, it's a very considered operation. It's not done where you're posted on a Facebook page and say, 'hey show up there and feel free to go on.' "It's done via the local branch and the local branch management in conjunction with the landowners, so that everyone's comfortable with how things are going to progress going forward. So it is a very considered, very methodical process." Gratton said the plan detailed insurance coverage around NZDA hunters and health and safety to mitigate any concerns, and it held future possibilities. "We're looking at obviously bringing these relationships further field and doing it all year round with other problems with deer and what-not onto this land. "So it's a collaborative effort to talk to landowners and to build those ongoing relationships within the community." Ten landowners have already registered their interest. The event was also being supported by Federtaed Farmers, Hunting and Fishing and Te Tari Pūreke Firearms Safety Authority. The Department of Conservation said on its website, goats arrived in Aotearoa as early as the late 1700s when Captain James Cook released them in the Marlborough Sounds during his second voyage - and the government has run wild goat control operations for about a century. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
3 hours ago
- RNZ News
Warning after three injured trying to sort fires in Dunedin homes
Photo: RNZ / Cole Eastham-Farrelly Three people have been badly injured in separate attempts to remove a burning mattress, dryer and pot of oil from their Dunedin homes. Fire and Emergency said they were lucky not to have been killed by the fires in recent weeks, with one person asleep in a house without working smoke alarms. Otago risk reduction advisor Matt Jones said people should not try to deal with fires themselves. "These people have sustained serious injuries, but we were fortunate to not be responding to fatal fires," he said. "Let this be a reminder to people that if a fire is bigger than a football, then you can't put it out. You must get out and stay out. That means closing the door to the room if safe to do so, getting everyone out of the house and calling 111. Let the firefighters do their job and put the fire out safely." Jones said the mattress fire was caused by a vape's battery overheating while charging on a bed. "That caused a very intense, hot fire inside the mattress," he said. "The person attempted to remove the mattress three times, but this put themselves and others in danger, not only from the fire, but from the toxic smoke being emitted. "Everything in that house can be replaced, except for the people inside. People should never risk their lives to save their property - it's just not worth it." The home did not have working smoke alarms, Jones said. "It was just fortunate the person arrived home when they did as there was another person asleep inside the house at the time," he said. FENZ recommended having working smoke alarms in all bedrooms, hallways and living areas and a three-step escape plan.
RNZ News
7 hours ago
- RNZ News
Alternative alert system 'mothballed' despite benefits
Some people claim they received the tsunami alert dozens of times. Photo: RNZ/ Karoline Tuckey The founder of an alternative emergency alert framework says officials never gave it a look-in when they were setting up the under-fire Emergency Mobile Alert system. And he reckons his was better, proving its worth during the aftermath of the Christchurch quakes. The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) is investigating glitches in the current system following the magnitude 8.8 earthquake off Russia on Wednesday . Some Kiwis say they received up to 50 alerts, while some did not receive any at all. Matthew Nolan founded an alternative system, Readynet, which was used during the Christchurch Earthquakes and to mobilise volunteers cleaning up the Rena oil spill. "I think that the NEMA system - which costs them the best part of $20 million - has miscued for them, and it's certainly not the first time," he told Morning Report on Friday. "There is a record of it waking people up at night for messages that were text messages only, and as well as circumstances where people did not get the alert that they should have got." NEMA spokesperson John Price told Checkpoint on Thursday there were many reasons for the differences. "It could be different providers and different cell towers. There's a lot of possibilities, but this is something we're working through. We'll look into it, absolutely." Nolan criticised the NEMA system as being "one-way" only, and unable to tell if people had actually received the message as no information was sent back. "Whereas other systems and a better system, and yes, our system was interactive, and we could see where the messages had been received. "So for example, you send a message out into an area where there's a big river and cell towers have been wiped out. Our system would tell you that all the people in that river have not received the message - all the people in that river valley have not received the message. You can deduct from that, that in fact, the cell phone towers are out." Where the magnitude 8.8 quake struck. Photo: AFP He claimed the Emergency Mobile Alert system "can't target messages". "It's a modern equivalent of a World War 2 fire siren. It alerts people that something's happening and it gives them a brief message, but it can't target messages. "So for example… people in Upper Hutt got no message. In Lower Hutt, lots of people got the message. So, you know, why is there a difference between one area and another?" According to the NEMA website, the current system can "broadcast to all capable phones from targeted cell towers to areas affected by serious hazards". "You may not receive an alert if you are out of mobile coverage, mobile phone towers are damaged, or there is a power outage." Price said the variation in coverage "could be different providers and different cell towers, there's a lot of possibilities". Nolan suggested the system was not working as well as it could because it was now owned by "a banking conglomerate out of New York". New Zealand's system was provided by Dutch company one2many, which is now a division of Everbridge Public Warning, an American software company that specialises in alert systems. "Now, those sorts of companies are chasing the big markets, the multi-million markets, and I think New Zealand is a very small end of that market," Nolan said. "There is no office of that organisation in Wellington to work alongside emergency services in New Zealand… "I think that a New Zealand-owned, developed, supported, helpdesked system is the best, and that's what we had built, and our system is now mothballed." He said he asked officials to look at using Readynet for the national system, but "they never ever fully examined what we had, even though it was used during Christchurch to communicate after the Christchurch earthquake, to communicate with all the residents and contractors left inside the cordons. "And that was, information such as, well, 'The cordon will be open on the corner of such and such street at four o'clock this afternoon to allow people in and out for shopping there.' That's the sort of stuff you can't put on Facebook." As of Friday morning, a tsunami advisory remained in place . Pacific nations emerged relatively unscathed . Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
