A donation of venison by the Nelson NZ Deerstalkers Association’s branch will help feed needy people says a report on Radio NZ.
The Nelson branch of the New Zealand Deerstalkers Association has given “Kai Rescue” more than 30kg of venison sausages and patties, which will be distributed to those in need of food.
Kai Rescue, operated by the Nelson Environment Centre, aims to minimise food waste by collecting surplus or non-saleable food from supermarkets, growers, manufacturers and other sources.
Deerstalkers Association Nelson branch committee member David Haynes said the venison came from a managed hunt, which the association sometimes does on public or private land when the landowner wants animal numbers to be reduced to a manageable level.
Branch president Greg Couper and committee member Carina Jackson culled the deer, which the association then paid to have processed by Richmond-based Meat Solutions.
A young deer could feed 100 people, while a wild pig could feed 50 people, David Haynes said. While some people considered them a pest, wild game animals were actually “a really valuable resource”.
Deer was lean protein – low in fat and high in nutrients he said.
© a culled deer – not a pest but a resource
Excellent work by Nelson NZDA. NZ needs to show some enlightenment in treating wild animals as a resource and not vermin. The DoC cull of tahr was a case in point. Good protein left to rot rather than used. DoC should be ashamed of themselves, but they won’t be.
You are right John. DoC won’t be ashamed for they have no conscience. Anything “introduced” DoC hates. Funny – very peculiar and hypocritical – humans are introduced through migration. So too are sheep and cattle we farm on introduced grasses.
Deserving of praise are the hunters utilising the meat to help the needy.
Good on you should be done all the time
How many thousands of tahr have been shot and left to rot in pristine mountain streams in DoC administered land. No doubt some would have been difficult to recover but the recoverable ones would have fed a lot of hungry mouths. Also it’s a pity more NZDA branches don’t take on organised culls as a club trip and supply local food banks I think it would enhance negative views that some of the public have of hunters.
There can be little doubt that the urban-dwelling anti-blood sport lobby is gaining increasing influence. Conversely, the same people are protein eaters but are not witnessing and do not like dwelling-on, the slaughter of the creatures they consume,
while hating the thought of killing.
Most hunters shoot for the pot. If all wild animal kills were destined for the table, via charitable enterprise, then perhaps the ‘Antis’ view might change.
Wild life should be accepted to be a food resource that be monitored, conserved and culled as appropriate.
Sterling work .. this should be adopted as a coordinated national NZDA initiative …