DOC to lure pests before 1080 drop

The Department of Conservation has launched a war on rats and stoats with a harmless drop of bait aimed at giving the pests a taste for pellets before dropping ones full of 1080.

DOC's pest control programme, Battle for Our Birds, will cover 6000 square kilometres of conservation land and started today at Iris Burn on the Kepler Track in Fiordland National Park.

DOC's first salvo in its battle for our birds is a drop of duds, but that's what's intended. DOC wants to lull rats, stoats and mice into a false sense of security with non-toxic bait pellets.

The idea is they will get used to the taste before DOC slips them real poison in pellets laced with deadly 1080.

DOC says it's a war and makes no apology for its bellicose language because of real fears a bumper beech seed harvest may trigger a plague of pests.

"The beach seeds are going off, rat numbers are rising and unless we keep those rat numbers down we will lose the mohoua from places like this," says DOC's James Reardon.

The mohua is one of many native birds that could disappear along with bats and even snails.

"We've got kea, kaka; we've got parakeets; we've got South Island robin, mouhua; we have the long-tail bats here and they're hanging on by a thread," says Mr Reardon.

The 1080 drops are controversial, but DOC says they are the only option for remote, rugged areas. A lone protester, local hunter Dave Wilson, claims it will have the opposite effect.

"The more 1080 you put on an area the more the rats will come back in greater numbers," he says.

See the original post:
DOC to lure pests before 1080 drop