Mahurangi Matters_Issue 370_21 August 2019

Page 1

August 21, 2019

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What’s inside Homeless in Warkworth page 9

‘Ghost’ in local cemetery page 11

Men in action

pages 23-28

View a video online at localmatters.co.nz Volunteer firefighters put their skills to the test during a major training exercise involving a dramatic blaze at a house fire on Leigh Road. (See story page 3)

localmatters.co.nz

Diseased feral pigs cause chaos in Puhoi Mounting fears over an explosion in the number of diseased, feral pigs overrunning land in and around Puhoi boiled to the surface at a meeting at the Puhoi Centennial Hall on August 3. The meeting was organised by the Forest Bridge Trust, which called in a professional mediator to chair it, fearing a clash between landowners,

who complain pigs are wrecking their properties, and some hunting enthusiasts, who are accused of trespassing and deliberately releasing pigs into the wild to make more sport. About 70 people attended, including hunters, landowners and representatives from Auckland Council, the QEII National Trust and the Department of

Conservation (DOC). Early scepticism that there was no pig problem in Puhoi was quickly countered by a barrage of testimony from landowners. They complained significant increases in pig numbers had been witnessed in the last two years. The pigs were destroying pasture and orchards, ripping up paddocks

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and posing a threat to native flora and fauna, including stands of kauri trees and Hochstetter’s frog. Moreover, pigs were destroying trap lines meant to curb other pests. One speaker said many pigs were sick, posing a threat to human health through the spread of diseases such as continued page 2 WWW.RDCONSTRUCTION.CO.NZ

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