Thread: Poison drop delayed

https://www.stuff.co.nz/marlborough-...-carcass-count

So is it proven possums prey on birds? Not just one picture I mean proven as a species?

good on the the local NZDA for putting $ and time to try & stop this insanity. Deferment is step in right direction.
"Possums feeding on birds" .... bullshit ! and deer kill "by-kill" - I'd call bullshit on that one too. OSPRI knew exactly what was going to happen. arseholes !

Good work.

Marlborough NZDA had a "give a little" page that raised several $K so the public have funded the research as well.

But good on them. Positive action like this is constructive and should be supported.

Originally Posted by Gibo

So is it proven possums prey on birds? Not just one picture I mean proven as a species?

Yes.
They raid nests for eggs and chicks.

Originally Posted by chainsaw

good on the the local NZDA for putting $ and time to try & stop this insanity. Deferment is step in right direction.
"Possums feeding on birds" .... bullshit ! and deer kill "by-kill" - I'd call bullshit on that one too. OSPRI knew exactly what was going to happen. arseholes !

DOC, OSPRI etc simply use the term by-kill as a scape goat for poisoning deer and anything else they want gone.
Yes they are full of bullshit but then they have to to be able to do what they do .

Originally Posted by Moutere

Yes.
They raid nests for eggs and chicks.

I'm sure there is a percentage that do but certainly not to the effect that there are no birds left.Possums and birds have been living together for some time lol.1080 will be making the coons look rather slow nowadays when it comes to killing birds.
Simple really, you f*** with nature then it will turn right round and f*** with you.

Originally Posted by Moutere

Yes.
They raid nests for eggs and chicks.

No they don't !! The posters previously used to promote this idea were actually staged, some even using pets and animals mounted by a taxidermist - the rat + possum + nest poster. Remember the poster that had a thrush nest with blackbird eggs and an attendant possum?? Possum research undertaken by FRI scientist Drew Peters in the 1970's /80's is the most thorough and rigorous undertaken in this country and that research did not show eggs and chicks as a dietary component of possums. Possums can of course be trained to eat a new food source in captivity just as almost any other animal except Panda bears can. For a long time we were also fed the BS that peak possum population had reached 70 million this (back of an envelope Doc staff ) figure had no proof but was used in funding applications and the actual figure from Drew Peters was 25 to 30 million, extrapolated from counts plus skin harvest figures that were compared to the stable/declining population. Forget what landcare research say their 'research' is tailored to fit with the political objectives

@Moa Hunter I was searching for this info the other day. Can you provide a link to the Drew Peters research ? hopefully it was published .

Originally Posted by Moa Hunter

No they don't !! The posters previously used to promote this idea were actually staged, some even using pets and animals mounted by a taxidermist - the rat + possum + nest poster. Remember the poster that had a thrush nest with blackbird eggs and an attendant possum?? Possum research undertaken by FRI scientist Drew Peters in the 1970's /80's is the most thorough and rigorous undertaken in this country and that research did not show eggs and chicks as a dietary component of possums. Possums can of course be trained to eat a new food source in captivity just as almost any other animal except Panda bears can. For a long time we were also fed the BS that peak possum population had reached 70 million this (back of an envelope Doc staff ) figure had no proof but was used in funding applications and the actual figure from Drew Peters was 25 to 30 million, extrapolated from counts plus skin harvest figures that were compared to the stable/declining population. Forget what landcare research say their 'research' is tailored to fit with the political objectives

https://scholar.google.co.nz/scholar...=1&oi=scholart

Originally Posted by Moa Hunter

No they don't !! The posters previously used to promote this idea were actually staged, some even using pets and animals mounted by a taxidermist - the rat + possum + nest poster. Remember the poster that had a thrush nest with blackbird eggs and an attendant possum?? Possum research undertaken by FRI scientist Drew Peters in the 1970's /80's is the most thorough and rigorous undertaken in this country and that research did not show eggs and chicks as a dietary component of possums. Possums can of course be trained to eat a new food source in captivity just as almost any other animal except Panda bears can. For a long time we were also fed the BS that peak possum population had reached 70 million this (back of an envelope Doc staff ) figure had no proof but was used in funding applications and the actual figure from Drew Peters was 25 to 30 million, extrapolated from counts plus skin harvest figures that were compared to the stable/declining population. Forget what landcare research say their 'research' is tailored to fit with the political objectives

Thanks Moa Hunter.
One is still learning and to be honest I can not recall anything about this Drew Peters in the 70-80's and his work. I was hunting for the NZFS in the early to mid 70's,,never knew he existed.

Doc are not big on listening to anyone even their own scientists.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/environment/...ith-the-public

If the old DOC possum numbers were 70 million year after year doesn't that mean their efforts were only keeping up with the annual birth rate. And how can the monitoring figures be approx. 3% residual. But I guess they only need to keep bluffing Joe Public who so many of seem to take them as gospel.

Originally Posted by chainsaw

@Moa Hunter I was searching for this info the other day. Can you provide a link to the Drew Peters research ? hopefully it was published .

So far chainsaw I can't give you a link to Drews work sorry. He worked out of FRI in Rangiora.