Science Media Centre

On World Wildlife Day, Victoria University of Wellington’s Dr Wayne Linklater writes in the Dominion Post about his thoughts on the “native good, exotic bad” message. An excerpt (read in full): I don’t like my children being provoked to kill for conservation. And I don’t like them being taught to demonise an entire species of animal, […]

New regulations under the Resource Management Act will bring the control of 1080 under national, rather than regional, control. Environment Minister Dr Nick Smith announced the changes on Sunday, following consultation last year. He said the new approach would standardise the rules for using poisons like 1080, “rather than the current system of different rules […]

Nearly six months ago the Government announced it would aim for a Predator Free New Zealand by 2050. We asked experts about the tools needed to pull off the audacious plan and what the hurdles to success might be. Please feel free to use these comments in your reporting. – Professor Neil Gemmell, University of Otago […]

A New Zealand-made self-resetting rat and possum trap has garnered more praise after a student’s research project tested its efficiency against traditional traps. Bay of Plenty Polytechnic student Chantal Lilas tested out Wellington-based company Goodnature’s self-resetting trap over a 10-day period in Taneatua Forest, Bay of Plenty. She set up 25 of the self-resetting traps […]

In the hubbub following the Government’s call for a predator-free New Zealand, one point has been missing, writes Dr Wayne Linklater in the Dominion Post: NZ isn’t people-free. An excerpt (read in full here): Wayne Linklater: It’s a people problem, not a pest problem Increasingly, as recent efforts to make Stewart Island predator-free or neighbourhoods […]

The Government’s announcement to aim for a ‘predator-free New Zealand’ by 2050 has been widely covered by media – both here at home and internationally – this week. While the initial announcement made a splash in both local and international media, now the question is: how might such an ambitious plan be pulled off? Self-resetting traps, genetic […]

The Government plans to form a joint-venture company it will use to spearhead pest eradication efforts it hopes will exterminate all rats, stoats and possums in New Zealand by 2050. As part of the predator-free plan, four goals have been set for 2025: An additional 1 million hectares of land where pests have been suppressed […]

The Government announced today an ambitious target to make New Zealand predator free by 2050. Prime Minister John Key made the announcement in Wellington’s Zealandia wildlife sanctuary, echoing the call that physicist Sir Paul Callaghan made shortly before his death in 2012. Key said the Government would invest $28 million over four years to establish […]

More than 800,000 hectares of land across the country will be the target of the largest ever pest control operation in New Zealand’s history. The Battle for our Birds 2016 programme will kick off this winter, aiming to knock back a burgeoning pest population boosted by heavy forest seeding, or mast. Rat and stoat numbers […]

The predator control poison 1080 is not without controversy — but it’s the best thing we’ve got, say scientists meeting at a national conference this week. Ecologists and researchers from across the country are meeting this week to share their latest findings at the New Zealand Ecological Society 2015 Conference, which includes a symposium dedicated […]