Macraes Corporate Governance Policy?

Sounds like a lot of wank doesn't it? Let me put this in context.

On Wednesday the 30th of August I was very kindly driven up to Macraes Flat to visit the Department of Conservation (DOC) headquarters and more importantly the mammal-proof enclosure. Lesley Judd from DOC was the perfect guide, so enthusiatic about her role in the Otago/Grand Skink program. I really envied her obvious excitement about finding a career that she was so interested in. I would also like to thank Shaun who is training as a DOC mammal control worker. He was quite understanding of my naievity regarding the trapping methods used for feral cats, hedgehogs, stoats, weasals and rats.

Shaun setting a trap

Fortunately the day was quite warm and we managed to locate a Grand Skink who very kindly posed for a number of photographs. The environment is extremely beautiful apart from one major scar...the Oceana Gold Macraes Mine right next door. Gee, these Skinks have an uphill battle, not only are they sitting prey for the really large feral cats roaming the area, the farmers are rapidly burning their food sources and your neighbour is a ruddy huge gold mine!

I applaud the work being conducted by DOC in this area, in particular the feral cat dog training programme. Shaun has just acquired a puppy (Keila) that will be trained to sniff out cats. It is such a valuable contribution that these dogs make, as the monsters of the tussock have such a negative impact on endangered native species. Unfortunetly, some members of the public often have trouble distinguishing the difference between feral cats and urban cats. A real emotive issue this one as cat-dog personal have been singled out for abuse by cat loving freaks. This is a shame as the feral cats being trapped bear scant similarities with domestic cats. How many domestic moggies weigh 7-10kgs and can travel 150 kilometers in a 7 day period? Just to highlight this issue, my collegue Kat Baulu very kindly posted a couple of good links to my blog, they make interesting reading:

http://www.johnkinsella.org/essays/scapegoats.html
http://www.feralcat.com/action.html

Lesley with Keila

While the visit was incredibly productive in allowing me to visualise the scenery and look at possible angles for a shooting script on skinks, I was really taken with an art installation on the road to the skink enclosure. It seems that Oceana Gold in an attempt to uphold some form of corporate good behaviour have gifted the landscape a billboard installation and have called it an art-park? Hey, I liked some of the images on the billboards but it really stood out like muts nuts! At a reputed $30K, I couldn't stop thinking how money could have been spent more wisely assisting the 'Real Gold' of Otago, the charming lizards. Don't get me wrong, I love art and would hate to be labelled a cultural philistine, but the art-park really did not gell with me and contrary to Oceana Gold's press statement, it does not enhance the environment. I guess a clever mock-up of the Tui Brewery billboard campaign in the nearby Stanley's Hotel summed things up for me, 'Artwork'....Yeah Right!

Art Park?