September 05, 2018
Smell of cinnamon brings birdsong back to ngahere
A Forest and Bird campaigner says opposition to 1080 drops is one of the reasons for the poor state of birdlife in Northland's ngāhere.
The Department of Conservation has postponed an aerial drop in of 1080 in the Whangaroa forest after compaints iwi had not been consulted properly.
Dean Baigent-Mercer says anti-1080 protests in Taitokerau in the 1990s means there have been few drops since then, and the forest has suffered.
He says a study by Ngāti Hine kaumatua Kevin Prime and Landcare Research showed 95 percent of kereru chicks and eggs are taken by possums and rats before they even get out of their nests.
Mr Baigent-Mercer says when he travels around the country, the forests with the most life are those where there has been consistent application of the green cinnamon-scented baits.
"At the coldest time of year if you use 1080 bait, the smell of cinnamon, it wafts down the valleys and attracts the rats, possums to eat them. Around the 8 hours the possums and rats it takes to die they're attacked by stoats,ferrets, weasels and feral cats. There's no other pest controls we have at the moment that can be used on vast areas that can knock out the worse offenders all at once within 3 days," he says.
Dean Baigent-Mercer says the Whangaroa consultation was flawed, but people need to put the forest first.
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