The number of bovine tuberculosis (TB) infected foci has dropped below 40 for the first time in the history of New Zealand's TBfree programme delivered by OSPRI. According to this week's figures, an all-time low of 36 herds were infected with bovine TB (34 cattle and two deer herds).

The New Zealand Herald

Dog-owners will be discouraged from taking their pets into Auckland's Hunua Ranges for at least four months after a major drop of 1080 poison began today.

Watercare has taken two of its four Hunua supply dams out of service until they receive a clean bill of health, and three regional parks have been closed to the public for five days.

For all you need to know on the Hunua Ranges 1080 operation click here.

Radio New Zealand

The drop is part of a strategy will target a plague of rats and possums threatening native species in the ranges.

It will be made in three stages over two weeks, starting today with non-toxic bait to get the pests used to it, and the poison will follow in about a week.

Auckland Council said a total of about 50 tonnes of bait would be dropped over 21,500 hectares.

Listen to the bulletin on Radio New Zealand here

Auckland City Council

Auckland Council's planned pest control operation in the Hunua Ranges, surrounding reserve land and some private land, is close to getting underway.

From next week, the operational team will be closely watching the weather forecast to determine an optimal weather ‘window’ for the first stage of the operation.

Helen Murdoch, Nelson Mail

Community pest volunteers monitoring rock wren in the Henderson Basin of Kahurangi National Park say the alpine bird's future depends on the aerial use of 1080.

Alec and Marian Milne, of Golden Bay's Friends of the Cobb, said they had been monitoring a Henderson Basin population of the endangered rock wren during week-long trips into Kahurangi National Park since 2000.

TBfree New Zealand (powered by OSPRI New Zealand)

The TBfree programme, managed by OSPRI, has completed extensive testing of the Blackball Township water supply. This follows the aerial application of 1080 bait for possum control over much of the water supply catchment last October.

TBfree Northern South Island Programme Manager Matt Hickson said that to alleviate concerns raised by the Blackball Residents Association Trust, management of the township's water supply was discussed with the Grey District Council. As a result of these discussions a robust, independent water testing and management schedule was implemented.

The Westport News

Of the 22 kea monitored during aerial 1080 operations in Kahurangi National Park last year, two have been killed by the poison, says Department of Conservation (DOC) Westport conservation services manager Bob Dickson.

The two kea were found dead in the Oparara Basin (western Kahurangi) following the 1080 aerial drop that occurred last November.

Samantha Hayes, 3rd degree TV3

New Zealand's birds are facing a real threat of extinction, with many populations on the verge of flashing out due to exploding predator numbers.

Right now we're witnessing the biggest aerial drop of 1080 in our history. They're dropping poison on around 700,000 hectares of the country.

Of course there are plenty of people who think there's a better way to control pests.

Otago Daily Times

All 17 radio-tagged kea in the Mt Arthur region of Kahurangi National Park have survived the 1080 Battle for our Birds operation.

The fate of a further five kea being monitored in the park's Oparara block will not be known until rain washes the last of the poison bait away.

Marlborough Express

A rat plague could be the end of the long-tailed bats native to the Pelorus Bridge Scenic Reserve, a conservation volunteer says.

Giant rats feeding on dropped seeds from the reserve's beech trees had caused an explosion in rat numbers threatening a population of tiny endangered bats roosting in the area.

It prompted Forest & Bird to roll out trapping and baiting of rats, stoats and possums this month to help protect bats.