Dead stock not wanted in waterways or on beaches

A co-ordinated effort is being made to prevent dead stock washing up on North Taranaki beaches this winter.

Taranaki Regional Council and New Plymouth District Council are working together to raise public awareness about the problem. Last winter, 30 head of stock were washed up on North Taranaki beaches in two months – especially around Waitara.

Farmers risk heavy penalties if they dispose of carcasses in waterways.

“Many of the carcasses are found without eartags, which suggests they are being deliberately disposed of in rivers,” says the Taranaki Regional Council’s Compliance Manager, Bruce Pope.

“The penalty for anyone convicted of disposing of dead stock in a waterway is a fine of up to $300,000 or a jail term of up to two years.”

Mr Pope says the Council is determined to change behaviour by tracking down and prosecuting offenders. “Dead stock degrades waterways and presents a health risk to communities. And ratepayers have to foot the clean-up bill.”

Some of the carcasses washed down the Waitara River last winter were pushed out to sea before turning up at beaches near Waiwhakaiho, Urenui, and even in front of New Plymouth’s CBD.

Although some of the animals may have been caught in rivers purely by accident, farmers can avoid this by having secure fences, and by moving stock away from waterways when heavy rainfall is forecast.

Mr Pope says anyone who sees dead stock being disposed of in waterways should report the matter on TRC’s environmental hotline, 0800 736 222. “We will follow it up immediately.”

Dead stock should be disposed of in offal pits, or by arrangement with commercial operators such as Taranaki Byproducts Ltd.

“A few farmers dumping carcasses in waterways, or allowing livestock to enter waterways and be drowned and washed away, does nothing for the reputation of the entire agricultural sector,” says Mr Pope.

Guidelines for offal pits