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I totally agree. Humans do heaps of damage, but it is illegal to kill them, all we can so is educate the humans.
I wasn't meaning to use the foxes as a predator against possums, rather just comparing the damage foxes do there to the damage possums do here.
Yes humans do heaps of damage. Can you please explain the romance New Zealand has with 1080, how does *nuking* an entire forest ecosystem help to control possum numbers, doesn't it wipe out the things you hunt and how does killing off native birds help? I never did understand how it sits well with the 100% pure NZ image the country has.
Yes humans do heaps of damage. Can you please explain the romance New Zealand has with 1080, how does *nuking* an entire forest ecosystem help to control possum numbers, doesn't it wipe out the things you hunt and how does killing off native birds help? I never did understand how it sits well with the 100% pure NZ image the country has.
I don't use any poisons myself. I agree that 1080 is a severe way of dealing with the possum problem and I don't agree with it's use in New Zealand at all, but I do understand that something needs to be done in the areas that people can't get to, like parts of the West coast in the South Island. I personally only use traps and shooting to take out the pests here. My traps are set up on platforms, so I don't run the risk of killing a Kiwi. I don't use rodentacides either, as this runs the risk of Ruru (Moreporks owls) or native rare bats eating the poisoned mice and rats causing death by secondary poisoning. Hope this helps.
Did you know we have Moreporks over here too, I often hear them at night. There are purple swamphens that are the same as pukekos (Porphyrio porphyrio) and the kiwi is a distant relative of the ostrich. I'm not sure what, if any, impact Australian possums have on their populations. Although a possum would have its work cut out with an ostrich egg
Don't get me started about DOC. WOW. I didn't know you had Moreporks. I was aware that you had the swamp hens tho. Interesting you say about possums having trouble with an ostrich egg, because Kiwi eggs are just as big. Where I'm living, I hear Moreporks and Kiwi every night, which sadly is rare now. The history of the Kiwi is very interesting. They say that it flew here from Australia many years ago and when it got here, there were no predators, so it didn't need to fly anymore. Until humans came along with rats, cats, possums, dogs, stoats and everything else. Kiwi are an easy target and they taste so delicious.
Don't get me started about DOC. WOW. I didn't know you had Moreporks. I was aware that you had the swamp hens tho. Interesting you say about possums having trouble with an ostrich egg, because Kiwi eggs are just as big. Where I'm living, I hear Moreporks and Kiwi every night, which sadly is rare now. The history of the Kiwi is very interesting. They say that it flew here from Australia many years ago and when it got here, there were no predators, so it didn't need to fly anymore. Until humans came along with rats, cats, possums, dogs, stoats and everything else. Kiwi are an easy target and they taste so delicious.
You're sooo lucky to hear Kiwis, I never had that pleasure.
I know that humans used to eat kiwis and used their feathers for cloaks
and the Moa were hunted into extinction, maybe that was because of a lack of land based mammals which placed a great deal of strain on the bird species? I think that was why possum were introduced, also rabbits, hedgehogs, deer, pigs etc. which were hunted for meat and for their pelts. That must've taken some of the pressure off the native birds but the country's ecosystem totally changed after human habitation. It's great that New Zealand is trying to preserve islands of indigenous fauna but they're on a losing wicket with mass pest control in forested areas, I think it's better to trust nature, use selective baiting and let it take its course: allow the ecosystem to reach a balance? I wonder how many Kiwis have been poisoned with 1080 because DoC never tests them?
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1080 is persistent, especially in winter. Baits can last for months in dry and cold areas - and in regard to how 1080 breaks down in soil - research is still being undertaken.
1080 is a broad spectrum insecticide, and many of our native birds are killed by eating poisoned insects. Kiwi are omnivores - meaning they eat insects, and other types of foods. The Tongariro food supply of many native species has been repeatedly poisoned over the last 35 years. It's hardly any wonder kiwi aren't doing well. We could safely assume many other native species are in the same boat.
Anyway, how's life for you this time of year? you obviously enjoy living off the land and tread lightly does DoC interfere much with your lifestyle? You sound like a very responsible person, do you only trap and eat what you kill or do you trade also?
Very wet and muddy at the moment. Good time to sit by the fire and cook some wild food. Yes I do trade also. I make wine which is popular for trading. I also gift things and in return others seem to gift to me. A kind of Koha lifestyle. There's always something to eat. I'm focusing on getting some tropical fruit trees growing at the moment, then I will put down a good variety of veges in spring. I also intend to make a native nursery to trade and give away to areas that need regenerating.
What are your favourite fruit and vegetables for growing? I'd like to get some fruit trees in this year before the weather gets too hot. What do you mulch and feed them with?
I have tamarillos, yellow pawpaw, pink pawpaw, red guava, african guava, plums, peaches, mangos, avacados, loquats, bananas, passionfruit, icecream been, pipino, red raspberry, yellow raspberry, strawberrys, Kerri berry, tobacco, kava, and I have started a native nursery. I will start my new verge garden in spring when it warms up again. I just planted my garlic. My mulch is straight out of the forest under the natives. I also make a liquid feed out of fish guts, seaweed, manure and I compost all the rats and stoats and some possum bodies when there is an overload of possums, all go into the drum and brew for next years garden.
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