Poisons ready in New Zealand's battle to save rare birds

Jan 29,2014

WELLINGTON, Jan. 29 (Xinhua) -- Conservation officials are preparing their largest ever pest control program, involving a widescale poison drop to kill a surge in rat and stoat numbers that threatens to wipe out many of New Zealand's native birds.

The Department of Conservation (DOC) said Wednesday that climatic conditions had prompted an unusually heavy forest flowering this summer across both islands, particularly in South Island beech trees.

DOC scientists predicted the resulting bumper seed fall would fuel rapid increases in non-native rat and stoat numbers putting vulnerable populations of rare birds, bats and other species like threatened snails at high risk in the coming spring.

DOC director-general Lou Sanson said DOC has identified South Island forest sites with high risk populations and would be closely monitoring these areas in coming months for early signs of rapidly rising predator numbers.

Continued

Vultures Foraging Far and Wide Face a Poisonous Future

Jan. 30, 2013 — A first ever study of the range and habits of white-backed vultures across southern Africa shows that they often shun national parks, preferring to forage further afield on private farmland.

This behaviour and their tendency to scavenge in groups, means that vultures risk encountering dead cattle that have been administered veterinary drugs that are poisonous to them, or even poisoned carcasses intended to control other carnivores such as jackals.

The research, using Global Positioning System (GPS) satellite transmitters to track the movements of adolescent vultures, is published in the journal PLOS ONE.

The white-backed vulture is a widespread but declining species in Africa and it is now listed as endangered. In India, several vulture species are on the verge of extinction due to accidental poisoning from cattle carcasses that contain anti-inflammatory drugs administered by farmers. These drugs are non-lethal to cattle yet fatal to vultures. There is a concern that these drugs could become more widely used in Africa.

Vultures prefer to feed in savannah grassland habitats and away from other competing carnivores, such as lions, and the new study shows that the birds will go to considerable lengths to find food, crossing multiple state boundaries, with each bird on average ranging across an area twice the size of England.

Continued:  http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/01/130130184314.htm