Campbell Island sheep

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Campbell Island sheep are a feral breed that lived on Campbell Island, a remote subantarctic part of New Zealand. They were brought there in the late 1890s after the island joined New Zealand’s pastoral lease system in 1896. James Gordon of Gisborne shipped 400 sheep and timber for buildings to the island. After financial trouble, in 1900 Captain Tucker bought the lease and sent about three shipments of around 1,000 sheep each, mostly merino or merino crosses. In 1916 two businessmen, J. Mathewson and D. Murray, formed the Campbell Island Company (later a Syndicate) to run the farm, with shepherds and shearers working on one-year terms.

In 1927 John Warren, a farmer from Waitati, bought the lease and brought another 5,000 sheep. But wool and meat prices fell in 1929, and by 1931 the farm was abandoned. The lease was forfeited in 1934 and expired in 1937. The island was set aside to protect its plants and animals, and it became a nature reserve officially in 1954. The sheep population had grown early on, peaking at about 7,000–8,000 around 1913, then declined as food was eaten. By 1931 there were about 4,000 sheep and the farm was abandoned.

In 1958 about 1,000 sheep remained, with some recovery later. In 1970 a fence was built across the island and about 1,300 sheep on the northern side were shot, while about 1,300 on the southern side were left for the time being. By the late 1980s all remaining sheep were culled after a rescue expedition in 1975–76 brought ten live sheep to New Zealand for captive breeding. The descendants of those sheep were kept as a purebred flock until 2005.