Time Running Out for Exotic Tahrs in Cape Town

Ron Irwin
for National Geographic News

September 28, 2001

Cape Town's Table Mountain has a spectacular array of flora and fauna
that includes at least 1,470 plants—as many as in all of the United
Kingdom. The mountain is also home to descendents of ancient mountain
goats, called tahrs, which are nearly extinct in their native
Himalayas.

Now, the South African agency that oversees Table
Mountain's wildlife is set to eliminate the area's population of tahrs,
which feed on the vegetation. Officials say the move is necessary to
protect the area's indigenous plant life, some of which is unique to the
Cape Province.

The plan has raised a public outcry. Some residents of the Cape organized as Friends of the Tahr have gained support from people around the world—including the Dalai Lama—in their efforts to halt the removal until they can find a way to save the exotic animals.

Thanks largely to the work of Jeanne Wadee, the unofficial head of the Friends of the Tahr, the group has managed to block the killing of the tahrs, which began in May 2000. By the time it was stopped in February of this year, Table Mountain's tahr population had been reduced by half, with only about 50 remaining.

Yet time for any rescue effort to save the remaining tahrs is running out: The moratorium on the extermination program expires October 1.

The park authority that oversees the Table Mountain nature reserve, the Cape Peninsula National Park, says the tahrs are an invasive species that threaten the survival of indigenous species. Yet Cape officials have left the door open to a last-minute rescue by the Friends of the Tahr.

Members of the group challenge the idea that the tahrs are an invasive species. The tahrs "are part of Cape Town and her heritage and have been on the mountain for nearly 70 years—a long time in anyone's book. So if this does not make them 'local,' then I don't know what does," said Ellen Fedele, one of the founders of the Friends of the Tahrs.

Rescue Plan Proposed

The Himalayan tahr, one of three species of tahr, are close relatives of ancient mountain goats. They stand about 38 inches (97 centimeters) high at the shoulder and their diet consists of grass, plants, leaves, and twigs.

The Himalayan tahr has been poached to the verge of extinction in much of its native range in India. A sizable population still exists in New Zealand, where the species was introduced at the turn of the century.

The tahrs on Table Mountain are remnants of a colony whose history stretches back to 1936 when two tahrs from a zoo—whose forebears had been brought to South Africa at the turn of the century by Cecil Rhodes—found refuge in the greenery of the mountain's sheer slopes.

The Cape Province was once inhabited by many large African animals that are now gone from the region, including rhinos, elephants, leopards, and lions. The Cape Peninsula National Park, which encompasses the Table Mountain nature reserve, still supports a wide array of animal and bird species, such as bontebok, grysbok, caracals, mongooses, otters, and baboons.

James Jackelman, manager of conservation services for the Table Mountain nature reserve, said that the tahrs' foraging poses a major threat to the mountain's fragile ecosystem and rich endemic plant life.

Moreover, he contends, the tahr is an aggressive and territorial animal that doesn't cohabit peacefully with local South African antelope. As a result, he explained, park authorities have not been able to introduce South African klipspringer into the reserve.

The Friends of the Tahr have proposed a number of ways to save the remaining tahrs on Table Mountain. The suggestions have included moving them to a farm in the Cape Peninsula and having the animals sterilized. Cape officials have rejected these ideas, saying the tahrs could accidentally expand their range in the Cape if not removed.

But the park authority has not objected to the Friends of the Tahrs' most ambitious proposal: shipping all the remaining animals to India.

To this end, the Friends of the Tahr have enlisted the help of India's minister for social justice and empowerment, Maneka Gandhi. She is in discussions with the South African government to have the 50 tahrs on Table Mountain airlifted to India. The Indian government has set aside a reserve for them in Himachal Pradesh, near Kashmir close to the borders of Nepal and Bhutan.

But an obstacle remains: the Friends of the Tahr have had to plan and pay for the relocation.

Challenge of Relocation

It will be a challenge to remove the strong, agile tahrs from Table Mountain, whose steep sandstone slopes are covered with treacherous rocks and crevasses.

To solve the problem, the Friends of the Tahr have hired James Innes, head of a Utah-based company called Helicopter Wildlife Management. The firm specializes in retrieving animals from hard-to-reach places by capturing them in nets released from helicopters.

Over the past decade, Innes has used the aerial technique to round up more than 17,000 animals from regions throughout the world. In the treacherous Rocky Mountains, for example, he has safely captured bighorn sheep, wild horses, moose, caribou, wolves, coyotes, and grizzly and black bears.

The company has already used the rescue method to catch and relocate hundreds of tahrs in New Zealand.

Innes is convinced his team could safely remove the tahrs from Table Mountain and carry them to a holding area where they would be quarantined for three weeks before being crated for their trip to India. In Himachal Pradesh, they would be able to mate freely with the small number of tahrs dwelling there.

Jackleman worries that the Cape Town tahrs may have become so acclimatized to the relatively mild climate of southern Africa that they may have trouble adjusting to the more rigorous conditions of the Himalayas. He also questions whether the net-gun rescue operation can be done safely and successfully, despite Innes's confidence in the project.

Jackleman and his staff acknowledge that killing the Table Mountain tahrs is a last-ditch, unpopular solution, but they insist it's necessary.

South Africa is one of the most respected game reserve administrators in the world and has carried out ambitious culling projects—reducing the populations of elephants, lions, and other well-known African game animals in Kruger Park—with much less public opposition.

But Table Mountain lies in the middle of one of South Africa's biggest cities, and how it is managed is a matter of local scrutiny. Jackleman said he understands the outcry, and regards the public debate as "healthy and necessary."

Wadee and other Friends of the Tahrs argue that their efforts reflect the public's desire to save the exotic animals. The country's national parks, Wadee said, should not act alone in deciding the fate of Table Mountain's flora and fauna.

The Friends of the Tahr have appealed worldwide for funds to finance the resettlement program. But the group still needs 800,000 rands (U.S. $90,000) to meet the cost. With the October 1 deadline on the moratorium fast approaching, it's unclear whether they'll be able to act in time to prevent the remaining tahrs from being killed.

The author is a co-partner in the South African-based media company Atomic Productions.