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Rafting Possums Pose a Threat to Kapiti

10,000 Birds

Fishermen out near the island spotted a possum riding a floating log close to the island. It seems unlikely that the possum made it to the island, but it shows how vulnerable even the most important reserves are and how important it is to move towards a mammalian predator free New Zealand.

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When conservation and animal rights collide

10,000 Birds

I’ve written at length about the specific vulnerability of insular faunas and the catastrophic extinctions caused by the arrival of rats, mice, ferrets, cats and possums (amongst others), here in New Zealand fully half the pre-human bird species were lost.

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Crows, Contest Killing, and Communication

10,000 Birds

Foxes, coons, coyotes, possums and hawks all get a free meal that lasts for days on some of the larger shoots.”. It was written by Bob Aronsohn, who, in December 2013, killed his 150,000th crow. The hunters who do not eat their crows) “are providing a smorgasbord for other wildlife!”

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Acclimatisation Societies of New Zealand

10,000 Birds

Brush-tailed Possums were brought from Australia to help start a fur industry. Possums still strip our native forests, ferrets and stoats and possums still devastate our native birds. Gamebirds, such as turkeys, pheasants, partridges, quail, Mallards and the like were also brought, as were popular sport fish.

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The Kaka Nestor meridionalis

10,000 Birds

The population is estimated at fewer than 10,000 birds, and new information indicates that the species has almost disappeared from the mainland except for a few intensely managed sites, and those valleys that remain free of possums.

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Can Stewart Island become Pest Free?

10,000 Birds

The provision of more predator free islands has made conserving endangered species much easier, although there still are risks, illustrated perhaps best by a recent near miss where a possum almost reached predator-free Kapiti Island.

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Bird art on grain silos

10,000 Birds

The main pollinators are the Honey Possum and the New Holland Honeyeater and they have both been painted onto the silos. As for the Honey Possum in the artwork they are a species that I do not have a photo of! It took 31 days for Amok Island to paint the grain silos in Ravensthorpe and 338 litres of paint. New Holland Honeyeater.

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