New Zealand’s ambitious plan to save its birds: Kill every rat

Originally published May 11, 2017 at 5:30 pm Updated May 15, 2017 at 6:31 am 

The idea is to give a second chance to the distinctive birds that once ruled this South Pacific nation before humans arrived, bringing predators along. The goal is so ambitious it's been compared to putting a man on the moon

NICK PERRY

The Associated Press

WELLINGTON, New Zealand — New Zealand has set itself an environmental goal so ambitious it’s been compared to putting a man on the moon: ridding the entire nation of every last rat, possum and stoat.

The idea is to give a second chance to the distinctive birds that once ruled this South Pacific nation. When New Zealand split away from the supercontinent Gondwanaland 85 million years ago, predatory mammals hadn’t evolved. That allowed birds to thrive. Some gave up flight altogether to strut about the forest floor.

Then humans arrived, bringing predators with them. Rats stowed away on ships. Settlers introduced brushtail possums — an Australian species unrelated to North American opossums — for the fur trade and weasel-like stoats to control rabbits. The pests destroyed forest habitats and feasted on the birds and their eggs. More than 40 species of birds died out and many others remain threatened, including the iconic kiwi.

Now people want to turn back the clock. Yet the plan sounds impossible. How do you kill millions of vermin across a country that’s the size of the United Kingdom? How do you ensure a few furtive rats won’t undo all the hard work by surviving and breeding?

Scientists are talking about the mission in military terms: choking off pests on peninsulas and then advancing the front lines from there; developing new traps and genetic weapons; winning the hearts and minds of children and farmers alike.

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Israel’s 500 million birds: The world’s eighth wonder

German journalist and photographer Thomas Krumenacker was amazed by the bird migrations he witnessed in Israel. He couldn’t help but write the book on the subject.

 
By Zafrir Rinat Jan 13, 2017
read more: http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-1.764710

Migratory birds love Israel, now Israel is out to lure bird-watchers
Israel has best bird conservation record in the region
In Pictures Flights of fancy: Bird migration in Israel's Hula Valley

A working visit to Israel by German journalist and photographer Thomas Krumenacker 11 years ago changed his life. After witnessing the seasonal migration of birds here, he made his hobby something much more serious. The result: his book “Birds in the Holy Land,” which has just come out in German and English.

The work was published with the help of the Hoopoe Bird Foundation, founded by Rachel and Moshe Yanai and administered by the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel. Krumenacker lives in Berlin but visits Israel often. He follows the birds from the heights of Mount Hermon to the Gulf of Eilat.

The book’s photos and accompanying text show why birds’ migration along the length of the country has been termed “the eighth wonder of the world.” In a short period, more than 500 bird species pass overhead, and almost every year a new species not seen before in Israel is observed.

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Israel Has Best Bird Conservation Record in the Region

Slaughter greatest in Egypt, Italy; Israel gets high marks for enforcing no-hunting laws.

Zafrir Rinat Aug 23, 2015 5:18 AM

About 25 million birds are illegally hunted and killed or captured every year in countries bordering the Mediterranean, and many of these countries have adopted a policy of looking the other way when it comes to the mass killing of the winged creatures, a report released over the weekend by the group BirdLife International claims. On the other hand, Israel, the report says, has the best record among Mediterranean countries when it comes to bird conservation.

The most wide-scale slaughter is being committed in Egypt and Italy, says the report from BirdLIfe International, the world’s largest organization dedicated to the protection of birds, while the island nation of Malta has the worst record in relation to its size. Many of the avian creatures are killed or captured in the course of their seasonal migration between Europe and Africa.

After Egypt and Italy, the worst offenders on the list are Syria and Lebanon, which together account for the deaths of six and a half million birds every year. The annual toll in Malta is 110,000, but that puts it in first place based on relative area due to the country’s small size.

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Birdlife: Finch trapping will set bird conservation back five years

Mepa, government representatives voted in favour of lifting ban

Yesterday's approval by the Ornis committee of a proposal to re-legalise the finch trapping will set bird conservation in Malta back five years, Birdlife said today.

Two caged Linnets, a protected species, being used 

as decoys for illegal trapping. BirdLife Malta

“It is incomprehensible that the government will now be considering reintroducing this outlawed and environmentally indefensible practice just to placate the trapping lobby,” said BirdLife Malta’s Conservation Manager, Nicholas Barbara.

Trapping wild songbirds became illegal in Malta in 2009, after a five-year phasing-out period negotiated as part of Malta's EU Accession Treaty agreement. The change brought Malta’s national wildlife protection laws into line with Europe's Wild Birds directive, which guarantee protected status to wild finches and prohibit songbird trapping due to the activity’s ability to decimate wild bird populations, the society said.

“There is just no valid reason to take songbirds from the wild,” Mr Barbara said, “Finches readily breed in captivity, so people are still able to keep caged birds perfectly legally. It just doesn’t make any sense.”

On Sunday, the Times of Malta published an article revealing that FKNK and “independent” government appointed representatives on Malta’s Ornis Committee would be voting in favour of legalising finch-trapping at yesterday’s Ornis meeting. 

“And that is exactly what happened,” said Mr Barbara, who also represents BirdLife Malta on the committee.

Despite concerns raised by BirdLife Malta during the meeting, the proposal to re-legalise finch trapping was passed thanks to FKNK, MEPA and the three government appointed representatives voting in favour of recommending a derogation. BirdLife Malta alone voted against the proposal.

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