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Conservation groups contend grizzly bears have been killed because of sheep station activities.

“It’s time to take a much closer look at this ‘experiment’ and honestly weigh the impacts on the region’s iconic wildlife against the limited value the domestic sheep station provides,” said Sarah McMillan, with WildEarth Guardians, one of the plaintiffs in the case.

Local historians believe the tree formed out of an old willow fence post, which was built by Wanaka sheep station as part of efforts to keep stock out of the village.

Mr. Lewis also partnered with impresario David Merrick to produce “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” a 1963 Broadway adaptation of the Ken Kesey novel, and shared an Emmy nomination as executive producer of “The Thorn Birds,” a 1983 hit miniseries about a family living at a sheep station in the Australian Outback.

The sheep station was taken up by a newly arrived Highland Scot named Niel Black early in 1840.