A BRIEF NOTE ON HOW LOCAL PEOPLE INTERACT WITH RUSA IN THE FLY RIVER FLOODPLAIN, PAPUA NEW GUINEA

By Martin Auldist

Dec 1, 2024

A hunter from Nakaku and his six dogs, setting-off to catch deer.

FEATURE Dr Tim Nevard

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The largest concentration of rusa in New Guinea is in the Trans-Fly region, comprising the Fly River floodplain and similar landscapes along and over the Indonesian border to the Merauke region. Their populations have grown to thousands, maybe several hundred thousand, all initially derived from a Dutch introduction near Merauke in around 1920, of animals brought from the Aru Islands.

While searching for the presence of two crane species, brolga and sarus, in mid-July this year, a colleague (Steven Nowakowski) and I travelled from Kiunga to Sapuka and back down the Fly River and its backwaters for several hundred kilometres, in an open boat. Although we found significant areas of suitable crane habitat, the floodplain landscape was even wetter than when we last visited in October 2022, as La Niñ a conditions have intensified this year, and have raised water levels above record levels.

As part of our survey work, we visited local villages and talked to elders and hunters to find out when and where they saw cranes and experienced some interesting interactions with rusa. We saw several pens of rusa, providing an accessible fresh food resource where there is no electricity and hence no refrigeration. The deer are fed, soon becoming very tame after capture, adapting well to their new lives. When needed, individual deer are selected for the pot, providing a high protein diet for villagers, with minimum stress to the animals themselves.

Deer are captured alive by chasing with dogs, who run them into waterbodies where they are either caught from dugout canoes while swimming, or physically ‘tackled’ in shallower water by waiting teams of hunters.

Not every village has captive deer, and they are still hunted traditionally on a widespread basis. Firearms are rare, with ammunition difficult to come by and government regulations reducing accessibility, so bows, with a significant draw, are therefore used extensively.