I’d come to watch the Adsheads poke at decaying stoats because they are nature lovers. So are most New Zealanders. Indeed, on a per-capita basis, New Zealand may be the most nature-loving nation on the planet. With a population of just four and a half million, the country has some four thousand conservation groups. But theirs is, to borrow E. O. Wilson’s term, a bloody, bloody biophilia. The sort of amateur naturalist who in Oregon or Oklahoma might track butterflies or band birds will, in Otorohanga, poison possums and crush the heads of hedgehogs. As the coördinator of one volunteer group put it to me, “We always say that, for us, conservation is all about killing things.”
It’s a bizarre story.
[Wednesday-morning update]
A number of commenters are wondering why I think this is bizarre. I guess it’s just because the notion of living in a place with no mammals whatsoever (other than humans) seems very weird to me. I understand that they’re not native, but I’ve lived with them all my life, and have trouble imagining their total absence. Would I even be allowed to keep a dog? Or a cat?
There have also been discussions about the forced neutering and spaying of cats, followed by a ban on having them as pets.
It’s sad when an entire country goes Portland.
I don’t get it; what’s odd about this story? The only thing that stood out to me as odd (downright weird, actually) was the sniffing of a cup of bird droppings.
It seems to me that there’s no contradiction between being a conservationist and an eradicator of invasive species. Indeed, they seem to logically go hand in hand; invasive species are, globally, by far the largest cause of extinction/endangerment.
Of course, in New Zealand, the most destructive invasion species is humans starting with the Polynesians who arrived centuries ago with their critters.
I’m wondering where do they draw the line? Is it ethical to kill a few million mammals to preserve a few thousand birds? Is encouraging diversity more valuable than preserving existing lives? Sounds very progressive to me, kind of the opposite of the Nazi’s Final Solution. But it’s too late for the moa, amongst other extinct creatures. A democracy of species rather than of individuals ….
Do you have any idea how many mammals are killed every year to produce the food you eat? Even if you’re a vegetarian? Farmers do *not* let mice and rats eat their seeds and grain.
A friend of mine was once showing a visitor around her farm. Seeing a very fat barn cat, the visitor said disapprovingly, “You’re feeding her too much!” Only to be told, “I don’t feed her anything.”
I question the premise of “invasive species”.
I suppose you can make a value judgement and declare that kiwi birds are “more equal” than ferrets, but really, why is that any more logical/ethical/desirable than more ferrets?
As far as I’m concerned, survival of the fittest works for me.
The ferrets were introduced to kill rats and rabbits. They started killing birds instead.
If you buy a dog to get rid of coyotes and he starts killing your sheep instead, you shoot the dog. Any rancher understands that.
And every city has a phone book with listings for exterminators and animal control. Do you welcome rats into your home?
As for moral authority, this may offend some people, but since it’s Christmas time anyway:
God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
The Bolivian Tree Lizards eat all the pigeons, then you introduce Chinese Needle Snakes to get rid of the Bolivian Tree Lizards, then you send in snake-eating gorillas to get rid of the Needle Snakes. And then when wintertime rolls around, the gorillas simply freeze to death. 🙂
I’m puzzled as to why you think it’s a bizarre story, here’s a list of native NZ birds, they’ve evolved over millions of years and are simply not equipped to survive the predatory skills of mammalian carnivores, so without controlling those predators many, if not most, of those birds would soon become extinct.
Does America not have any species worth protecting through conservation efforts?
http://www.doc.govt.nz/conservation/native-animals/birds/birds-a-z/
I just think that it’s unusual to have an eradication program of an entire class of animal. I’ve heard of invasive “species,” but an invasive class?
Turkeys were once nearly extinct and now they are coast to coast. Wolves have been reintroduced with perhaps too great of success. We have many conservation programs for all manner of animals.
But we also kill animals to control them. In Washington, we have bounty’s on pike minnow because they eat salmon. Entire lakes are regularly poisoned to re-balance fish populations. Hunting is used to control the populations of deer, wolf, and other animals.
We have a highly managed wildlife system with endless tinkering, breeding, transplanting, and killing. Management efforts also extend to plant life. I didn’t think the story was all that bizarre either.
But it’s too late for the moa, amongst other extinct creatures.
Moas are recently enough extinct that it seems clear we will be able to obtain good high-quality readings of their DNA (the present technological limit seems to be about 100,000 years for bone in temperate climates). Thus moas will likely be resurrected not too far in the future.
I just think that it’s unusual to have an eradication program of an entire class of animal. I’ve heard of invasive “species,” but an invasive class?
It is indeed unusual, but then a fragment of old continental terrain — an insular survivor from the ancient breakup of Pangaea and Gondwana, to which (landwalking*) mammals never penetrated — is also (and not coincidentally) unusual. (*Obviously the entire class wasn’t excluded from New Zealand, as aerial [bats] as well as aquatic mammals did make it there.)
Would I even be allowed to keep a dog? Or a cat?
You’ve let your imagination run a bit wild there, this country is covered in sheep, cattle goats and horses, hares and rabbits are all over the place, mammalian pets include cats, dogs, rodents, guinea pig, chinchilla, and who knows what else.
I was just trying to understand how far they’re willing to take this.
No mammals? They have more sheep than people…..
I didn’t say they have no mammals. I was describing the apparent goal.