Wildlife breeding programmes


Kaka

The answer is controlling predators.  New Zealand, along with much of the rest of the world, has an unaturally high level of predators.  The situation is out of balance.

We must control predators by hunting, trapping and poisoning to ensure that our wildlife still exists in 20 years time.  At the present rate of predation, kiwi will be extinct in 15 to 20 years.  Forest FLoor are endeavouring to save kiwi.   We support any initiative to protect kiwi habitat.

 
Kokako

Kokako such as this can be saved with trapping and poisoning methods to kill predators.  100 to 150 kokako chicks will die in Pureora Forest this season alone because the $25,000 budget for saving these creatures has been suspended by DOC.  Meanwhile they turn to dropping 1080'd carrots but cut them up too small, so taht thousands of small birds died when the small bits of poisoned carrot were caught in the tree tops.  See the DOC connection.

Reduce the number of feral animals

Once a few Manuka have been planted, money is better spent on then concentrating on keeping down feral animals, primarily through fencing, hunting and trapping.  To increase the bird population the bird predators have to be eliminated.  Once seed is on the ground, the seed predators such as mice and rats then have to be eliminated.  Once the plants have grown, then possums, pigs, goats and insects need to be eliminated.

 Animal pests:

Balance of ethics with success of trapping and the ultimately humane death, because as a local trapper said “people think that when your beating something over the head your being inhumane , whereas the immediate loss of consciousness involved with this method of death is quick and humane and long practiced over millennia. How many humans have died that way, for gods sake?  Trapping is the best because its non toxic, the catch is useable too as an organic resource.  It provides benefit to any farming system, we compost them 80 at a time layered with horse shit green foliage and seaweed, weeds and trimmings.   You don’t even have to turn it, you’ve just got to get it hot enough to keep the smell down.  But we want to get a biodigester, to capture the fertilizer and the gases as an additional energy source, especially good non-compressed for cooking.”

  Trapping roots you in the natural world….having to go out in the bush and have this regular life and death experience, combined with the eco buzz of satisfaction and selfreward knowing you are looking after the bush. Living our ethics, giving life to our ethics, is a pinnacle of human achievement.”

  Fencing:

Your plants need to grow in a safe environment. Make sure the site is securely fenced to keep out stock and goats. An electric fence may be needed.

Traps

Local people using traps have had better results in the Ureweras than with poison in controlling possums, rats and mustelids.

  Stoats

Freeze dried rats for bait with fenn trap (better results than poisoned eggs) (Ureweras)

Drops cod liver oil

  Possums

Victor no 1 trap

Timms traps are a convenient way to trap possums, or ask advice from your regional council pest officer.

  Hares

 love tender new plants and will snap off quite large stems. If total eradication of these pests is impossible, make barricades with sticks (particularly prickly ones) around the plants. There are some sprays available, but these are expensive and need to be repeated frequently. To start with, plant things pests don't like such as manuka.