Back country hut damaged by armed vandals

Items from the Meadow Hut thrown into the Roaring Meg Stream. Photos supplied.
Items from the Meadow Hut thrown into the Roaring Meg Stream. Photos supplied.
Some of the damage done to the Meadow Hut, on the Pisa Range.
Some of the damage done to the Meadow Hut, on the Pisa Range.

Three young men in camouflage clothing and carrying firearms may hold the key to identifying who damaged a hut on the Pisa Range, near Cardrona.

The Meadow Hut, in the Upper Meg Valley, has holes in a toilet wall caused by a shotgun, and holes in a barbecue plate believed to have been caused by a .308 rifle, and other damage.

The 12-bed hut is on Pisa Alpine Charitable Trust land, about 4km from the Snow Farm base building.

It is popular with cross-country skiers and trampers and is used by school groups.

Trustee Mary Lee, who designed the hut, told the Otago Daily Times yesterday the hut was undamaged when last used on October 9.

However, two Wanaka woman found the damage on a day trip to the area on Labour Day.

Mrs Lee said the three young men at the hut, aged between 16 and 20, told the women they were not responsible.

However, Mrs Lee would like them to come forward because they could be the key to ascertaining who did do the damage.

''We're not saying it's them, but they are the ones who would have information.''

As well as the gunshot damage, a picnic table and saw-horse from the hut were thrown into the nearby Roaring Meg Stream, and sleeping bags and mattresses put outside.

Mrs Lee understood the amount of damage was not great and would not prevent the hut being used, but she was very disappointed firearms were involved.

''I'm really, really gutted that somebody could do that, particularly with all the gun laws.

''Until [Monday], I would have happily sent my 10- to 12-year-old grandkids on their mountain bikes around that area, believing it was perfectly safe.''

It was only the second time in her 50 years of farming she had experienced a hut being vandalised.

Mrs Lee said the hut was not locked ''because we fear that if somebody came in there with exhaustion, they couldn't get in when they needed to.

''And people who are going to do wilful damage are going to shoot the door off or bash the door in anyway.''

Trustee John Burridge said hunting was not permitted on trust land although shooting, as part of the sport of biathlon, was.

''That's one of the reasons why we are so upset.

''Our kids learn that shooting is a very controlled process and they have to abide by very strong rules.

''And you have got these cowboys out there shooting at a toilet door.''

Mr Burridge said the vandalism ''wrecks'' the high country tradition that huts were a ''sanctuary from weather or other circumstances'' and he described those responsible as an embarrassment to New Zealand traditions and standards.

The hut is about 2km from the Pisa Conservation Area, administered by the Department of Conservation, where hunting is allowed with a permit.

mark.price@odt.co.nz

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