All the Himalayan tahrs shot with rifles during the first phase of the removal programme on Table Mountain in April and May 2000 were killed instantly by single shots to the head or neck, according to one of the marksmen involved.
This has been stated under oath by Gavin Bell, who is also one of the Table Mountain National Park's area managers.
During the first phase, 54 tahrs were killed - 28 shot with rifles, the rest with scoline darts - before the operation was put on temporary hold because of the intervention of the Public Protector at the request of the Friends of the Tahr group.
A different view of the likely outcome was taken by a firearms expert that supported the group's subsequent Cape High Court interdict application - recently dismissed by agreement.
François van der Merwe, a Cape Town security consultant, trained police "Swat" marksmen from 1995 to 2001.
In his affidavit he speculated that many tahrs would be injured or wounded during shoots and might later die from blood loss from wounds or from infections.
This was because the likelihood of marksmen achieving clean and humane kills of tahrs was "more a matter of luck than good judgment".
This was denied by Bell, a qualified wildlife manager and professional hunter, who took part in the actual shooting. "All of the target animals were killed instantly by single neck or head shots," Bell said.
Van der Merwe said he understood the marksmen intended to use soft-tipped bullets and "silencers".
A silenced round had much less energy than a standard one, and a clean kill required perfect aim.
The silenced bullet travelled more slowly, with a more pronounced trajectory, so the accuracy of any shots fired from a distance was "compromised", Van der Merwe said. "Such a shot might well only cause a shallow wound or cripple the target animal. At best, such a shot would cause slow death."
He said the .223 ammunition recommended by the parks ethics committee was an unsuitable choice "from anything except point blank range".
"My professional opinion is that this is unlikely to be achieved, except in the rare event of encountering a target animal on a footpath.
"The probability of 'clean'-killing the majority of the animals, where they are free-ranging and moving targets, no matter what calibre of bullet or rifle used, is low."
But Bell disagreed, in his affidavit.
He said the marksmen had used .243 calibre soft-nosed bullets fired from silenced rifles with telescopic sights, using dead rests. "The animals were targeted on foot at distances ranging between 20m and 50m, at which it is possible to target an extremely small area.
"The adverse effects on accuracy - mentioned by Van der Merwe - of wind, terrain, clothing changes, silencers and soft-nosed ammunition at the above-mentioned distances are minimal."
The shooting had been done in conditions of little or no wind, and all the tahrs had been still when shot, Bell said.
"If anyone was seen in the vicinity, the operation was to be stopped immediately."
In a city council eradication attempt in 1976-77, more than 350 tahrs were shot, and it was thought "at least 600" remained.
"A small nucleus of officials who are excellent marksmen with hunting experience, have been used for the task. These officials have attended lectures in killing techniques and to date no animals have been left wounded," the city reported then.