Monday, October 25

deer wily in NZ


This guy I know, Jon Santer, reports from New Zealand on an incredibly stupid but exciting use of technology. Deer overran the country for a while, then they were nearly hunted to nothingness, but then people decided to capture them and start deer farms.
After some deliberatioin on how best to do this the good old boys down here decided the best way would be to hover above the deer in a helicopter and have the passenger jump out onto the back of the deer and wrestle it to the ground. OH yeah, I've seen the tape. People did this for a living.

But they eventually got smart, so there's a happy ending. This from the United Nations' page on DEER CAPTURE METHODS AND POST-CAPTURE TREATMENT:
The most recent advances in capturing feral deer have been made in New Zealand. Deer can be captured by a multitude of methods, but helicopters have been most widely used in New Zealand. A new innovation has been to shoot a combination drug-dart and radio transmitter dart from a shotgun at a deer to be captured. However, this method requires skill in the interpretation of radio signals and drug handling. [Mmm, drug handling.] Deer are also trapped in nets ejected from the undercarriage of a helicopter, but this method is somewhat dangerous to both deer and catchers. [Now, the best part.] Another method is to jump upon a deer from a helicopter after which it is physically wrestled and restrained. This method is mainly used for capturing fawns.

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