Sunday, 01 March 2015 00:00

1080 drop knocks stoats in Otago

Written by 

 A 1080 poison drop in the Blue Mountains, Otago, has knocked rodent and stoat numbers down to “undetectable levels”, says OSPRI, which runs the TBfree scheme.

 OSPRI teamed up with DOC in the Blue Mountains, as part of the Battle for our Birds campaign.

 Stoat numbers “fell dramatically: monitoring by tracking tunnels showed stoats at undetectable levels (0%) compared to 38% in November last year prior to the aerial pest kill operation”.

 Tracking results also showed rats and mice had dropped to 0% in the treatment area from rates of 10% and 30%, respectively, says Brent Rohloff, OSPRI’s southern South Island programme manager.

 The Blue Mountains is a TB risk area, where infected wild animals have been found. 

 “The Blue Mountains operation shows we have the skills and capability to stamp out TB in wild animals and [support] biodiversity gains,” says Rohloff.

 DOC spokeswoman Ros Cole said the TBfree operation was welcomed at a time when DOC was busy with other Battle for our Birds pest control work in the South Island.

More like this

Help available for flood-hit farmers

The chair of the Otago Rural Support Trust, Tom Pinckney, says he believes that they will be especially busy in the coming months as the enormity of the floods hit home.

Support welcomed for southern farmers

Federated Farmers says it welcomes the announcement of extra Government support for farmers and growers in Southland and parts of Otago after the region was hit by severe wet weather.

Expensive pet food!

OPINION: Your canine crusader was staggered to learn that an investigation by the Taxpayers' Union has revealed that taxpayers and Otago ratepayers have forked out more than $2.76 million to kill just... 18 wallabies!

Featured

Australia develops first local mRNA FMD vaccine

Foot and Mouth Disease outbreaks could have a detrimental impact on any country's rural sector, as seen in the United Kingdom's 2000 outbreak that saw the compulsory slaughter of over six million animals.

NZ household food waste falls again

Kiwis are wasting less of their food than they were two years ago, and this has been enough to push New Zealand’s total household food waste bill lower, the 2025 Rabobank KiwiHarvest Food Waste survey has found.

Editorial: No joking matter

OPINION: Sir Lockwood Smith has clearly and succinctly defined what academic freedom is all about, the boundaries around it and the responsibility that goes with this privilege.

National

All eyes on NZ milk supply

All eyes are on milk production in New Zealand and its impact on global dairy prices in the coming months.

Machinery & Products

Leader balers arrive in NZ

Officially launched at the National Fieldays event in June, the Leader in-line conventional PRO 1900 balers are imported and distributed…

JDLink Boost for NZ farms

Connectivity is widely recognised as one of the biggest challenges facing farmers, but it is now being overcome through the…

New generation Defender HD11

The all-new 2026 Can-Am Defender HD11 looks likely to raise the bar in the highly competitive side-by-side category.

» Latest Print Issues Online

Milking It

Full cabinet

OPINION: Legislation being drafted to bring back the controversial trade of live animal exports by sea is getting stuck in the…

» Connect with Dairy News

» eNewsletter

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter