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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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Can Stewart Island become Pest Free?

10,000 Birds

New Zealand has one of the direst records of extinction is modern times, second on really to Hawaii in terms of bird species lost. Once the link between mammalian invaders and bird extinctions had been confirmed without doubt (something that took a lot longer than it really should have) the problem became what to do about it.