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In New Zealand Conservation Means Killing Things

newyorkguy

Penultimate Amazing
newyorkguy
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Don't laugh. According to an article in the Dec. 22, 2014 issue of The New Yorker:

Rats and other invasive mammals are destroying New Zealand’s native fauna. A quarter of native birds are extinct. The kiwi is threatened. What can be done? “Conservation is all about killing things,” a volunteer coördinator said.
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New Zealand's Department of Conservation has been using massive amounts of a toxin known as 1080 to try and eradicate the invasive species. ("The key ingredient in 1080, sodium fluoroacetate, interferes with energy production on a cellular level, inflicting what amounts to a heart attack.") New Zealand has roughly one-tenth of one per cent of the world’s land but eighty per cent of the 1080 used worldwide is used in NZ. In 2014 the DOC planned to spray 1080 over nearly two million acres. This was prompted by an unusually warm winter, which produced an exceptionally large supply of beech seed, which in turn had produced an explosion in the number of rats and stoats.

It's a serious problem. The invasive species are destroying New Zealand's native plant life at an alarming rate. Even the iconic Kiwi is threatened with extinction.

I know we have New Zealanders among the members here and I'd like to hear their thoughts and etc about this crisis. Because apparently it is a very real ecological crisis.
 
Uh, culling the herd is a classic method of conservatation.

You really don't seem too understand how conservation works . A lot of it is not very Warm and Fuzzy.
 
Such strategies have worked on islands off NZ, and in other countries.

Conservation does sometimes involve killing invasive species.

If someone in Australia could wipe out every Cane Toad it would be good for the native fauna.
 
If you drive moderately long distances in NZ, you'd notice the amount of possum roadkill.
 
Culling feral hogs here in California and in other states is just about a full time job, and any suggestion of using any type of poison substance would not fly. Guys have to go out and shoot them on a very regular basis. It's on a far lesser scale, but locally we've had a bunch of mountain lions coming down into the suburbs, and they have sometimes been killed by county animal control or LEO's.

I wish the New Zealanders luck.
 
BStrong said:
Culling feral hogs here in California and in other states is just about a full time job, and any suggestion of using any type of poison substance would not fly. Guys have to go out and shoot them on a very regular basis. It's on a far lesser scale, but locally we've had a bunch of mountain lions coming down into the suburbs, and they have sometimes been killed by county animal control or LEO's.

I wish the New Zealanders luck.
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NZ has some advantages over other places as far as conservation is concerned. With the lack of native mammals, if you could find mammal-specific poison, it could be safe for the native fauna.

Also a lot of the problems are caused by small mammals, e.g. rats and possums, not pigs or deer (although both do require culling).

ETA: AFIK, pig hunting is fairly popular, but I don't think rat hunting is.
 
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Conservation is always about creating an environment where the target species can survive; that often means culling the predators - particularly as here where the predators have been introduced and are threatening the survival of the native flora/fauna.

If we had culled the grey squirrel in the UK when it was first introduced, we might still have a healthy population of our native red squirrel.
 
jimbob said:
NZ has some advantages over other places as far as conservation is concerned. With the lack of native mammals, if you could find mammal-specific poison, it could be safe for the native fauna.

Also a lot of the problems are caused by small mammals, e.g. rats and possums, not pigs or deer (although both do require culling).

ETA: AFIK, pig hunting is fairly popular, but I don't think rat hunting is.
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When I was a kid, shooting rats at the city dump was a common closed day activity for adults and kids alike - it seems like a 100 years ago, but back then I and my buddies would take our .22 rifles (openly carried) across the freeway overpass unsupervised to the city dump, talk to the caretaker on-site for permission, and if you restricted firing to single aimed shots onto the garbage pile area (away from any humans into the artificial backstop where the garbage would be buried) you could kill rats to your hearts content.

Nowadays I'd bet the whole exercise could land everybody involved in jail.
 
When I was younger in canterbury we used to get paid to blow away rabbits by farmers
 
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Oh yes, the great Easter Bunny hunt.

I'll amend my statement about rat hunting.

It would be likely to do nine tenths of bugger all to the rat population.
 
Australia has huge problems with feral animals, most notably rabbits, foxes, cane toads, camels, cats, goats, horses, pigs etc etc. Unfortunately it, unlike New Zealand, is a huge country and poisoning has little effect.

Go for it NZ.
 
There used to be a get campaign for possum fur which was "Save a Tree, wear a possum"

Seriously, yes, when it comes to things like the Australasian Possum, rats, mice, ferrets, and stouts, they need to die, they kill the native animals at a terrible rate, and the possums strip the trees as well, so not only do they kill chicks, but they destroy the habitats of the birdlife. And yes it's a very serious problem.

We have areas that are pest free, and the wildlife is returning in number there, but it's a long way to go. 1080 works well, and while there is a little bit of by catch during the drops, heading into them a few months later, and they are spectacular with native birds.

One thing you have to keep in mind. Other then aquatics (seals, whales, and dolphins) the only native mammals in New Zealand are two types of bat. As a result, most of the wildlife evolved without major predators and so are extremely vulnerable to the likes of rodents and other pests. Cats and Dogs are issues too, with any dog that is taken into the bush areas needing to have Kiwi aversion training before doing so as they will often run up and grab a Kiwi which is likely fatal for the bird.

So yes, conservation here does mean killing things, it also means killing the right things, those that were never meant to be her until humans brought them over.
 
In The New Yorker's reader comments section someone from Martinborough NZ raised the concern about the unintended consequences of the widespread use of a powerful toxin like 1080. How do they target it so that it kills the invasive species and not also the species it is hoped to save?

From the New Zealand Herald:
Opponents say the poison kills not only pests, but also native birds and wildlife such as kiwi. Further, they say, it is a cruel method of pest control and may contaminate the ground and waterways. Hunters oppose 1080 because it kills deer and recreationists say it makes a mockery of New Zealand's claim to be clean, pure and green. Link
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I used to enjoy the ruddy ducks - Oxyura jamaicensis on the lochs near here. Then the conservationists shot them all.
 
NYguy.

Massive over exageration on the part of anti 1080 nutters.

They are usually office workers who dont seem to be able to understand most of it is dropped in places it would pushing it to walk around.

When they volunteer to be dropped in the middle of sweat f all. Where regular lose thems and have to be rescued for a couple of months with just a few traps. I will listen to them.

My brother in law on west coast used to cull deer and possums for doc. went away bush for about agot week dropped off helicopter. He said there were times even he got worried
 
Shooting small animals such as rats will do nothing but entertain. So poison is often the only solution that can kill enough animals to keep them under control. Larger animals such as pigs can be controlled by shooting. The difference between the two is that small animals can breed very quickly. Bigger animals have only a few small litters every year.
 
A huge amount is feral cats and stoats etc.

But apparently to some killing feral cats is some how equivilent to shooting their kids wee fluffy in the face
 
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