A Scottish charity has offered to pay for the live capture of alien tahrs on Table Mountain and Sanbona game reserve near Barrydale has offered them a home - but nature conservation officials will not sanction the move.

Deon Hignett, in charge of flora and fauna permits at Cape Nature Conservation, said it would simply shift the problem from Table Mountain to the Little Karoo. It was not a new idea and had been turned down in the past.

Another reason for not allowing alien species on Sanbona was that it was to form part of a proposed biosphere reserve.

The charity is the Marchig Animal Welfare Trust.

• This article was originally published on page 3 of Cape Times on May 11, 2004