 Over the 80 years of subsequent isolation the cattle survived well despite the harsh climate, feeding on Enderby's scrub vegetation, Southern Rata, and seaweed, evolving to cope with the environment.Cattle had been released earlier, also, in an effort to provide food for castaways.In 1991, New Zealand's Department of Conservation decided that species introduced to the Auckland Islands, including cattle and rabbits, should be culled in the course of a program to restore the natural ecosystem.