Human-introduced species that threaten native animals have been targeted in the world’s largest action involving a populated area.
The Manaaki Whenua Conservation Research Institute has signed a $2.8 million (HUF 1.12 billion) cooperation agreement with Stewart Island—or Rakiura in Maori—the animal protection organization Predator Free Rakiura, to exterminate opossums and rats over a four-year period. and feral cats and hedgehogs, MTI writes. The project also includes research programs in which pest populations are investigated in order to see how they can be kept under control in the most effective manner.
Rakiura is located near the South Island and covers nearly 180,000 hectares, non-native predators have dealt a huge blow to sensitive flora and fauna. These are species such as the flightless kiwi, which has become a national symbol, or the nocturnal kakapo, the heaviest flightless parrot in the world.
What we learn here will help eradicate predators in the entire country
– The Manaki Research Institute wrote when they said in its statement.
Chris JonesAn employee of the research institute said that similar actions have already been carried out all over the world, including on the island of South Georgia in the Atlantic Ocean, where the extermination of mice covered about 350 thousand hectares. Although the rakura is smaller, its population is much larger, which makes it the world’s largest predator extermination in a populated area.
