The West Coast branch of the New Zealand Deerstalkers' Association hopes to change perceptions around wild goat with a "Bush to Belly" event on Saturday at Punakaiki.
By Vihan Dalal of Local Democracy Reporting
The day is organised by the Department of Conservation in partnership with the New Zealand Deerstalkers' Association as part of the National Wild Goat Competition.
It will be held at the Punakaiki DOC workshop.
West Coast regional councillor and farmer Andy Campbell has previously advocated harvesting wild goat instead of importing goat meat from overseas and NZDA West Coast secretary Natassja Savidge said they hoped the event would change the public's perspective on wild goat.
Savidge said Bush to Belly would also include goat-based dishes. "There is definitely an impression that it is tough and does not taste very good."
NZDA hoped to encourage private hunting to help tackle the feral goat population on the West Coast.
"It is a partnership between the Deerstalkers' Association and the Department of Conservation to get people out hunting goats for pest control, and on the Coast we are trying because we have so many goats here. We're definitely trying to promote it as a food source for people.
"So if we can get more people out hunting goats that can help the conservation side and then help feed families as well."
NZDA West Coast president Dave Mitchell said the event had continued to grow each year and already had helped control numbers.
"We started off reasonably small, we are getting bigger each year and we certainly are playing a rather large part in keeping animal numbers down anyway."
– Local Democracy Reporting is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ on Air
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