1080 blitz against pest plague begins

RARE FLYER: The long-tailed bat is one of the endangered species set to benefit from a 1080 pest-control operation.

A war on pests is set to launch in Fiordland as part of a national offensive to save the country's endangered native wildlife.

The first operation in the Department of Conservation's Battle for our Birds pest control programme starts with an operation in the Iris Burn valley in Fiordland National Park tomorrow.

The Iris Burn operation is one of 22 confirmed operations that will use aerially applied 1080 over about 600,000 hectares of conservation land to knock down rising predator numbers fuelled by unusually heavy seeding in South Island beech forests.

Critically endangered long-tailed bat populations along with whio, mohua, Fiordland tokoeka kiwi, kea and kaka over 11,200 hectares in the Iris Burn valley and adjacent areas, including alongside Lake Manapouri, will be protected.

DOC Fiordland Conservation Services manager Lindsay Wilson said monitoring results showed significant silver beech seed-fall in the area and rapidly rising rat and mice numbers.

"Rodent numbers are already tracking towards levels that will trigger a stoat plague in the next few months - just as our most vulnerable species are nesting and trying to raise their young," he said.

"If we don't act now to knock back these predators, we could lose species such as long-tailed bat and mohua from the Iris Burn."

Tomorrow, non-toxic cereal bait pellets will be spread across the target area.

This "pre-feeding" technique would encourage rats to eat the biodegradable poison-laced cereal pellets, which would follow when weather conditions allowed, Wilson said.

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1080 blitz against pest plague begins