Predator-killing aerial 1080 poison drops planned across the country will be shrunk by 100,000 hectares, and cost millions of dollars more, because of the severity of this year’s mega mast.
Orange-fronted parakeets will still get protection but some mohua populations miss out as DoC reduces the area of forest being covered by 1080 poison. David Williams reports.
Predator-killing aerial 1080 poison drops planned across the country will be shrunk by 100,000 hectares, and cost millions of dollars more, because of the severity of this year’s mega mast.
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As the Department of Conservation gears up for another large pest-control operation Samantha Gee finds out if the last one worked and what the future of predator control looks like.
A small yellow insect-eating bird with a loud melodious call is what first drew Graeme Elliott into the world of New Zealand's native birds. Elliott, a self-confessed "nerdy little birdy kid" was raised in Christchurch and spent family holidays in Nelson where he remembers climbing Mt Arthur to look across the huge expanse of Kahurangi National Park, and wonder what was out there. DoC scientist says result helped breeding birds but is disappointed some pests survived.
A major 1080 poison offensive succeeded in wiping out 95 per cent of rats and 85 per cent of stoats in targeted forests around the country, but the result was still below what a Department of Conservation scientist was hoping for. As part of a $21 million project dubbed The Battle for Our Birds, DoC staff launched 27 aerial pest control operations between last August and February over hundreds of thousands of hectares of beech forest, mainly in the South Island. The birdsong of the vulnerable mohua is being heard in greater chorus in the Catlins after a 1080 drop, the Department of Conservation says.
The population of mohua, one of New Zealand's rarest songbirds, in the Catlins was increasing after a successful joint agency pest control programme last spring, DOC said. |
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