Monitoring studies show that targeted pest control operations last summer have led to record survival rates for short-tailed bats in the Eglinton valley in Fiordland.
DOC undertook a coordinated pest control programme in the Fiordland National Park valley last spring to combat a beech seed-fuelled rat and stoat plague over the summer.

Results show 99% of the bat population survived following the Battle for our Birds pest control operation.

This is almost twice the survival rates (50-60%) shown to occur without pest control in a beech mast (seeding) year.

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.

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.

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.

OPINION: was there a sign in the last week that one of 1080's biggest battles had been won?

After Conservation minister Nick Smith rubber stamped plans for one of the biggest blanket drops of the poison last Friday, the silence was deafening.

More 1080 poison will drop from the sky this year to stop a plague plague of "Biblical proportions", but anti-poison activists say it is unnecessary as seed is already rotting on the ground.

Conservation Minister Nick Smith was in Maruia yesterday to confirm his 'Battle for our Birds' mass poison campaign would be going ahead.

TBfree New Zealand is working with environmental groups to stamp out pests in the Rangitoto Range to control bovine tuberculosis (TB) and bring the birds back.

The Hauhungaroa and Rangitoto ranges make up a part of New Zealand's 10 million hectare TB risk area in which TB-infected wild animals have been found.

A bird count was completed in two possum control zones around Taradale last month.

The Bird count will set a base line against which Hawke's Bay Regional Council can, in the future, assess the outcomes of its urban possum control programme and benefits for the biodiversity of the area.

The biggest ever single 1080 operation in Wairarapa's Aorangi Forest Park is about to go ahead thanks to the collaboration of groups that have traditionally been at loggerheads.

TB Free New Zealand is carrying out the 30,000 ha operation in south eastern Wairarapa and even hunters are on board, which is a mark of how far the 1080 debate has progressed.