New Zealand vows to kill every weasel, rat and feral cat on its soil

[jpak]

Source: Washington Post

New Zealand is a nation that takes its birds seriously, and it’s got very special ones. The country’s currency is adorned with images of winged species found nowhere else, including the yellow-eyed penguin and the black-masked kokako. The logo of the national air force is stamped with the famed kiwi — a chicken-sized puff of feathers that cannot fly.

But many of those birds and other native wildlife are under assault from species that showed up with settlers to the island nation 200 years ago. And on Monday, Prime Minister John Key announced that, generations after they came, the invaders would have to go.

New Zealand, he said, has adopted the “ambitious goal” of eradicating its soil of rats, possums, stoats and all other invasive mammals by 2050. The name of the plan: Predator Free New Zealand.

“This is the most ambitious conservation project attempted anywhere in the world, but we believe if we all work together as a country we can achieve it,” Key said in a statement, adding that invasive predators have surpassed poaching and deforestation as the biggest threat to New Zealand’s wildlife. Key held a tuatara, a lizardlike native reptile, after announcing the plan, the Financial Times reported.

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Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/animalia/wp/2016/07/25/new-zealand-plans-to-kill-every-weasel-rat-and-feral-cat-on-its-soil/

[George II]

1. At first read of the headline I thought they were talking about republicans.

[MynameisBlarney]

3. HEH!

[Blue_Tires]

26. +1

[FLPanhandle]

2. They should also go after all cats (feral and domestic)

Even domestic cats are devastating to birds and in NZ there are a number of flightless birds.

[vinny9698]

7. Cat are born serial killers

I have two cats both well fed, yet they still bring "gifts" to my doorstep about once or twice a week. Squirrels, mice, birds,
When they play with you they are practicing their killing skills.
But cats are terratorial, so they do not go on long hunts, just hang around the house.

[Warpy]

13. That attachment to territory also makes them ideal house pets

Just set up a seat near a window where they can watch the birds go by and they're happy little critters.

That's how I transitioned my tough Boston city kitty to the wild west after I saw a hawk looking at her and licking its beak. She loved her window seat and escape attempts were few and none successful.

Cats need to be indoor. Even colonies of barn cats need to be encouraged to remain inside.

[djg21]

23. That is an owner problem.

I'm sorry if you are offended.

But if you know that cats are incredibly skilled and destructive predators, why do you continue to let your cats outside? Apart from wreaking havoc on local birds and wildlife, they are themselves vulnerable to predators (coyotes, fisher cats, dogs, etc.) not to mention humans in automobiles.

Cats are house pets and should be kept inside.

[cab67]

12. This is why my cats are indoor-only.

I love cats. I cannot imagine life without them. But I know what happens when they roam at large.

Cats have been devastating not only to birds (including the only living flightless parrot - fewer than 100 of them left) but to tuataras, now limited to a few islands off the NZ coast. And I've personally witnessed the damage they've done in the Galapagos Islands and Hawaii.

Between cats, mongooses, and introduced birds and their diseases, the only places where one can see native Hawaiian birds is in the highlands. And even there, they're bloody uncommon. Just before my first visit to Kauai, I took the most recent field guide to Hawaiian birds, which was published in 1988, and drew lines through the species that had gone extinct since then. In some cases, most of the birds shown on a page had died off between 1988 and the time of my visit in 2010. You'll see lots of birds in the coastal areas, but they'll all be invasives from North America, South America, or Asia.

Even here, I've had local cats - not strays - stake out my bird feeders.

[FairWinds]

4. NZ is a great country with great people -

been there a number of times.

Fascinating place.

Until humans showed up around a thousand years ago, birds were
at the top of the food chain.

Amazingly, there were no mammals at all.

[Mendocino]

17. "No mammals at all",

well they do have native bats.

[FairWinds]

21. Thanks for the correction !!

[IronLionZion]

5. I've wondered why cats go after birds

you'd think they would prefer furry rodents and mammals as easier to eat.

[lunatica]

19. They prefer all of them

Cat's are born and natural hunters. The preying attributes will never be taken out of them.

It really puzzles me that people simply don't get that.

[geek tragedy]

25. birds are easier to see.

they fly and land, instead of skulking about low to the ground behind stuff

[morningglory]

6. Here in N. Fla. I humanely trapped possums on our property

and relocated them to a wooded area that had a water supply. Then I found out that possums eat their weight in cockroaches in a week. Soon our deck was crawling with roaches, as we lived under a lot of live oak trees and other attractants. I can agree with getting rid of non-native species, but one must be careful about messing with nature.

[jpak]

8. The NZ possums are bushy-tailed possums from Australia

They eat the fruits and flowers that native birds rely on...

[Panich52]

9. Obviously actual naturalists & conservationists weren't consulted

One would think they'd have learned lessons taught by Australia regarding uninformed attempts to control ecology by major alterations of species diversity & makeup.

[ret5hd]

11. As you know, they are attempting to restore the balance...

by removing non-native invasive predators.

[cab67]

14. They were.

Removal of destructive invasive species is nearly always a good idea.

Australia's problems were also caused by introduced species - red foxes, cane toads, etc.

[jpak]

15. NZ DOC has removed invasive predators from several islands and reestablished endangered birds there

They now plan to do this for the entire island.

In the late 1800's and 1900's there was a society that introduced English fauna (including birds) to New Zealand.

It was a disaster for the native bird.

[NickB79]

22. Clearly you aren't a naturalist or conservationist

All the species listed are non-native and only introduced in the last couple centuries.

[Atman]

10. Whew...I actually got this link from my FB news feed.

I thought it was another political analogy.

[FairWinds]

16. In New Zealand all mammals, including humans . .

are invasive species.

Here is Ohio we are lucky to have wonderful
neighbors, but they let their cats run free a good
deal of the time - and those critters' favorite hunts
are for song birds in our yard. And they don't eat them,
just kill them. Grrrrr.

Here is a great project in NZ - lots of wildlife preservation opportunities !!

http://www.tossi.org.nz/what_is_tossi.php

[olddad56]

18. that puts Trump's life in jeopardy if he ever goes to New Zealand.

[ozone_man]

20. To be fair, they should leave too.

Who has had the biggest impact on NZ ecology?

[rug]

24. Not even trump would go that far.