New Zealand poisoning millions of wild animals
New Zealand poisoning millions of wild animals
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Upinflames

Original Poster:

1,778 posts

201 months

Saturday 16th July 2022
quotequote all
Is this old news and nobody told me?

A friend just came back from New Zealand and said how good old Jacinda is spending millions on helicopters dropping poison to kill off all non native mammals.

I thought this surely can't be true, but a quick search threw this up:

https://www.flydreamers.com/en/articles/new-zealan...

https://youtu.be/yQRuOj96CRs

Along with a load of other stuff.

Hardly befitting for a country I thought was a near natural paradise.


glazbagun

15,121 posts

220 months

Saturday 16th July 2022
quotequote all
They're invasive species. Nations the world over have problems with them but NZ & Oz have it tougher as they evolved without even analogues for what has landed. I'm not sure NZ even has native mammals.

We're trying the same with the Grey Squirrel, albiet with contraception and not poison.

CoolHands

22,178 posts

218 months

Saturday 16th July 2022
quotequote all
Who’s “we” with regard to grey squirrels? Do you mean the uk or you personally in your grounds?

Shooting them seems good, I can’t see how contraception can be targeted to them?

pokethepope

2,667 posts

211 months

Saturday 16th July 2022
quotequote all
CoolHands said:
Who’s “we” with regard to grey squirrels? Do you mean the uk or you personally in your grounds?

Shooting them seems good, I can’t see how contraception can be targeted to them?
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-62096272

Upinflames

Original Poster:

1,778 posts

201 months

Saturday 16th July 2022
quotequote all
glazbagun said:
They're invasive species. Nations the world over have problems with them but NZ & Oz have it tougher as they evolved without even analogues for what has landed. I'm not sure NZ even has native mammals.

We're trying the same with the Grey Squirrel, albiet with contraception and not poison.
Dropping thousands of tons of poison in such quantities that our rivers are not fit for humans to swim in? I missed that!

ZedLeg

12,278 posts

131 months

Saturday 16th July 2022
quotequote all
Literally said we weren’t using poison.

We’re also trialling releasing predators that were native but had become endangered like pine martens.

The thinking is that they’ll go for greys over red squirrels as they’re larger and easier to catch.

It’s a sad fact that a part of conservation is culling non native and feral animal populations that have grown out of control. If you leave them they push native species out. Like the grey squirrel and american crayfish.


caziques

2,806 posts

191 months

Saturday 16th July 2022
quotequote all

see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1080_usage_in_New_Ze...

There are no native mammals in NZ.

bigandclever

14,205 posts

261 months

Saturday 16th July 2022
quotequote all
caziques said:
see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1080_usage_in_New_Ze...

There are no native mammals in NZ.
There are bats that would disagree with that assertion.

Upinflames

Original Poster:

1,778 posts

201 months

Saturday 16th July 2022
quotequote all
ZedLeg said:
Literally said we weren’t using poison.

We’re also trialling releasing predators that were native but had become endangered like pine martens.

The thinking is that they’ll go for greys over red squirrels as they’re larger and easier to catch.

It’s a sad fact that a part of conservation is culling non native and feral animal populations that have grown out of control. If you leave them they push native species out. Like the grey squirrel and american crayfish.
It doesn't sound like you have read about this. They are literally poisoning the place to death. Rivers and lakes not fit to swim in, no trout, no birds in the forests. Everything that needs oxygen is affected.

The examples you quoted seem quite reasonable, the NZ approach does not at all.

Upinflames

Original Poster:

1,778 posts

201 months

Saturday 16th July 2022
quotequote all
caziques said:
see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1080_usage_in_New_Ze...

There are no native mammals in NZ.
No native white people either.

By your argument we would only allow dinosaurs

captain_cynic

16,254 posts

118 months

Saturday 16th July 2022
quotequote all
glazbagun said:
They're invasive species. Nations the world over have problems with them but NZ & Oz have it tougher as they evolved without even analogues for what has landed. I'm not sure NZ even has native mammals.

We're trying the same with the Grey Squirrel, albiet with contraception and not poison.
Yep

Australia has similar problems with invasive introduced species like rabbits and horses.

I think this is just a thinly veiled attempt to say "durrr, Kiwi woman baaaad". This isn't exactly a new issue for UnZud and both parties are generally supportive of curtailing invasive species.

This is somewhat more humane than many of Australia's attempts at culling (often involving shooting them).

ZedLeg

12,278 posts

131 months

Saturday 16th July 2022
quotequote all
Aye, I think there’s some Jacinda Ahearn hate coming up here.

It’s not like the poisoning is a new policy. While I don’t really agree with the use of poisons like this, I can understand why NZ would choose a scorched earth strategy when you consider how much damage european rodents have done to ecosystems all along the pacific.

the tribester

2,822 posts

109 months

Saturday 16th July 2022
quotequote all
An ex farmer friend recently visited NZ and he said that they seemed to have captured a large increase in the powdered milk supply to China, so dairy herds were increasing massively, with the subsequent increase in methane output, but also the farmers have not been controlling the run off correctly, so it's been getting into watercourses and killing everything in the rivers.

andy43

12,533 posts

277 months

Saturday 16th July 2022
quotequote all
glazbagun said:
They're invasive species. Nations the world over have problems with them but NZ & Oz have it tougher as they evolved without even analogues for what has landed. I'm not sure NZ even has native mammals.

We're trying the same with the Grey Squirrel, albiet with contraception and not poison.
It’s not easy. We have a grey squirrel problem and getting the condoms to stay on is bloody difficult.

Tony Starks

2,349 posts

235 months

Saturday 16th July 2022
quotequote all
the tribester said:
An ex farmer friend recently visited NZ and he said that they seemed to have captured a large increase in the powdered milk supply to China, so dairy herds were increasing massively, with the subsequent increase in methane output, but also the farmers have not been controlling the run off correctly, so it's been getting into watercourses and killing everything in the rivers.
Which is making rivers un-swimmable, not 1080 (in some instances it probably is getting into waters and causing issues).