Community / Da mystery o Enderby Island
Twa friends fae New Zealand cam bye da tidder day. Hit geed me a chance tae aks dem aboot da truth o a yarn.
Years fae syne da Herd Book cam tae hear a tael aboot de bein a herd o Shetland kye left on a isle aff New Zealand. A aald black an white photo wis com tae licht shaain peerie black coos in a unken land.
Dan twa year ago a Scottish man at wis veesitin cud tell me at he kent aboot da kye. An at dey wir aa shot bi da New Zealand Government fur dey wir a ‘invasive species’ laek rats an rabbits an cats.
Wir veesitors kent o Enderby Island an towt at da story haed anidder pairt; een at pentit a wheelbint tael o precarious survival.
Image: Google Maps
Enderby Island is a sub-Antarctic island o 700ha an pairt o da Auckland Island group 320 km tidda suddart o New Zealand idda Antartic Sea. De’r naebodi at bides dere oni mair, bit eence idda 13t century Polynesians ir towt til a bidden fir a start afore dey gae up. Dey lived aff o da moni kinds o selkies an seabirds.
In 1849 Charles Enderby at aaned a whaalin company sowt permission fir tae bigg a whaalin station dere. A hael toonship wi dir livestock moved tidda isle tinkin dey wid hae it til demsels, bit dey faan at 70 Maoris wir dere afore dem. As dey cam tae fin oot wi da cowld, weet wadder an da soor grund, fairmin wisna possible. Wi bareli oni whaals catcht an fokk turnin hopless, da hael lokk cleared oot in 1852. Hoosumivver dir kye wir left ithin Enderby Island. Ithin 1894 anidder go at fairmin wis tried bi a WJ Moffet at cam wi som kye tinkin da idder eens wir deed oot. Dis attempt seems til a failed tø, an whit wis left o da kye wis eence mair left tae live among da trees an aet tussock girse an tang.
Naerli a hunder years geed bye afore dey cam tidda attention o da New Zealand Government’s Department of Conservation in da 1990s as pairt o dir plan tae ‘eradicate invasive species’. Da kye’s days wir condemned til a end.
De wir twa towts athin New Zealand aboot da isle an da kye. Ee lokk (da Department of Conservation) jüst wantit dem deid an da tidder (da Rare Breeds Conservation Society) towt dey wir unique an wantit dem saved as a genetic phenomenon. Da eens fir savin da kye fan at gettin da kye oot o dere livin wid be ower muckle wark an betowt demsels at dey cud draa aff semen an save da coos’ eggs. As can happen da eens wi da guns wir faster aff da mark an in nae time haed 47 o da 53 shot. As da kye wir trackit doon an shot da vets tried tae kerri oot da operations on da deid animals. As hit cam tae be da sperm shaaed irregularities an da frozen eggs aa deed. Dey tried tae inseminate kye oot on da mainland bit dat wisna fir muckle øs idder.
Wi aa dis failures, shoorli dis wid be da end o da rodd fir da Enderby kye.
Bit Na, hit cam til licht at a coo an her caaf wis still dere hoidin among da trees!
Dis time dey got dem oot livin wi a helicopter, only fir da caaf tae dee o scour. Da coo wis naemed ‘Lady’ an wis aa dey noo haed left.
So mair scientists wir aksed tae help. IVF, in vitro fertilisation, wis tried an bi øsin da sperm fae da lang deid bulls o Enderby Island a bull caaf wis born, ‘Derby’. Back in Scotland a sheep caaed ‘Dolly’ wis created trow a new technique, cloning. In a world first a New Zealand scientist, Dr David Wells, successfully maed a clone o Lady. Dey cud see at wi onli ee coo an ee bull aathin wis hingin bi a treed. Da coo’s ovaries wir flushed an da eggs wir pitten intil ordinary coos as hosts. Oot o 37 attempts onli 5 wir boarn an onli 2 wir whaig caafs. Dis twa whaigs wir bulled bi da onli bull, Derby.
So efter aa dis wark bi dedicated fokk, science haed saved da day fir da breed. Bit wid hit no a bøn better til a no a shot sae moni!
Whit wye wis dis wirt da budder? Weel da kye wis bidden ithin a aafil plaess fir a century ithoot oni human care an wir said tae be hael an weel. If we ir gyaan tae fin wirsels ithin a wirld depeindin on sustainable food systems an wi far less oil-based inputs, we sal need da kind o genetic resources o da Enderby kye.
Whidder dir forebears wir Shetland kye nae sowl kens, bit dey certainli look laek wir kye. Hoo dey wan dere we sal nivver ken bit a lokk o Shetland fokk maed fir New Zealand at dat time, cud dey hae taen dir coo wi dem…?
Mebbe som day DNA checks sal gie da truth.
Ronnie Eunson
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