While away on camp we had a quick look at how the DOC (Department of Conservation) team controlled pests in the Tararuas. I want to know what you think about this. Do you think that using traps is the best way control our pests? Why/Why not? Are there any other solutions that you can find? How are they better/worse? Is DOC doing the best possible job they can?
Comment below with your answer. Please ensure there are no grammatical errors.
I think that a poison called 1800 would be more effective and cheaper that traps. It is roughly 3 times cheaper, and a lot easier to use then traps. It can also be used in areas that humans can’t access. It breaks down quickly, meaning it would pose no threat to our environment. It does not harm humans and dilates quickly in water. Also, since most native birds are immune to it, it poses no threat to other wildlife.
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By Meadow.
DeleteSorry, forgot to add that
I think trapping them and killing them is not the best thing to do as in Australia they are native and dyeing out. They probably think its crazy that we're killing them.
ReplyDeleteAlthough we don't want them in New Zealand they still want them in Australia. We could trap them but not kill them and somehow ship them Australia.
Last year we did a study on traps at GATE. Their was one trap that just caught the weasel or possums feet and held there until someone came and shot it. Sometimes pet cats would get stuck and be left there for days until they eventually died.
I think that some traps are alright but some are just really sad and cruel.
By nina
Ryan Joe
ReplyDeleteYes because of we use poison some of the native animals might eat it and if we shoot them it would take a lot more time to do so.
There aren't really any better solutions to getting rid of pests in the wild because we're in the wild so you can't just place any ordinary trap or poison down on the ground.
I think DOC is almost doing the best they can because if they were really trying that would have a lot more things to kill the pest with that harm our native birds.
I think that trapping and killing these pests is a good, and bad idea. Animals like rats and possums should be trapped because they have no purpose in life, they are just ugly, not many people like them, and they kill our native wildlife.
ReplyDeleteI think trapping is fine for now but they could find ways to improve it later.
Wild cats are an animal I think we could help. We have domestic cats which are cats too, just like wild cats except nicer and calmer. Wild cats could be taught better if they had someone to look after them and care for them, and the cats may realise that. They can change if we help them from when they are little, and some before they get their sight. Just like people, animals can change too, they may not become the nicest breed of cat but at least they will be better, and hopefully people realise that in years to come.
Killing rats and possums is a very good idea as these pests target the eggs of our birds, like kiwi.
Samarah
Trying to kill them is not a solution and if you put poison around. Other animals can eat it
ReplyDeleteand there is no point off killing them they will be still there.
There are way more than we think it is it can take years to kill them because it is all around New Zealand.
I think that DOC is doing best they can to get rid of them
By: Hamna
Ruby Brett
ReplyDeleteI think instead of killing the rats and mice, (Like we do now with the traps) I think we should catch them with a trap that doesn’t kill them, de-sex them and let the rats and mice go, so they will eventually all die out. That way we don’t have to kill them.
Australia is short of possums and we have too many. When we catch possums we could use the same traps but when they are caught we could ship or fly them over to Australia.
This way we don’t have to kill anything,everything would die of natural causes and we solve Australia's problem of a shortage of their native animal.
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I think that we should keep going with the traps but try some traps that work more than just keep the pests at bay but actually push the pest level down and drive them out of NZ. but also with possums maybe try to capture them because in Australia the original home of possums they are nearly extinct! so it would be good to repopulate them in Australia.
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Yes traps are one of the best ways to control the pest population in new Zealand . This one of the best ways because you can set a trap in the area were pest hunt and eat,mark it on a map and then walk away.While hunting you have to find where they thrive track them and then slot them,which can take up to 4 hours.
ReplyDeleteThere is one solution I can find which is this: Led a trail of bait that only the pest's will follow and then set the trap at the end of the trail. This means birds likes of the kiwi and the kakapo being killed in the trap.
I think that the pest population will gradually decrees as people are becoming more aware not to throw out food scarps into the trees.I think that pest's can be "endangered" in New Zealand by 2027.
I think DOC could do a little bit extra by Getting lots of volunteers to help set traps,DOC could also have a week long hunting tournament that whoever has the most pest's killed $200 or something along those lines.This makes cutting down the pest's population more interesting.But apart from that I think DOC is doing well with cutting down the population.
By Morgan
Yes traps are one of the best ways to control the pest population in new Zealand . This one of the best ways because you can set a trap in the area were pest hunt and eat,mark it on a map and then walk away.While hunting you have to find where they thrive track them and then slot them,which can take up to 4 hours.
ReplyDeleteThere is one solution I can find which is this: Led a trail of bait that only the pest's will follow and then set the trap at the end of the trail. This means birds likes of the kiwi and the kakapo being killed in the trap.
I think that the pest population will gradually decrees as people are becoming more aware not to throw out food scarps into the trees.I think that pest's can be "endangered" in New Zealand by 2027.
I think DOC could do a little bit extra by Getting lots of volunteers to help set traps,DOC could also have a week long hunting tournament that whoever has the most pest's killed $200 or something along those lines.This makes cutting down the pest's population more interesting.But apart from that I think DOC is doing well with cutting down the population.
By Morgan
I think that DOC is doing a very good job of killing pests but I'm not sure that killing pests is what we want. I think we should make traps that actually trap pests instead of just kill them. That way every month or so we can get all of the captured pests. Put them in boxes with holes in the top, some food and some water and then ship them over to countries where they are wanted or endangered. I think that DOC are too set on killing pests instead of trapping and transporting pests.
ReplyDeleteBy Finn
I believe that traps are not the best way to control our pests because every year DOC is spending over 5 million dollars on pest control. Traps last a long time but food must be replaced often and some traps need to be reset.
ReplyDeletePoison is a good option because it will be cheaper and less work. This means that DOC can kill more pests throughout the country. There are a few different types of poison, Rodenticide and Pesticide. Rodenticides are pesticides that kill Rodents. But it may also kill other small animals. 1080 is a common poison, some people don’t like it because it can kill dogs and cats.
DOC spends up to 2 million dollars a year with other groups trying to find the best possible ways to control pests. I think that if DOC used a variety of traps and poison they would then be doing the best possible job they could.
By Jacob
I think that traps are the best option for our pest problems. Poisons are good on the bad animals, but some poor, unsuspecting animal might eat it, which won’t do any good in the end. Especially if that animal is endangered.
ReplyDeleteReally, it might be a good idea to set traps in areas where pests are really common and put some animal-specific food to lure them in, so then some other innocent, unfortunate animal won’t get caught into it.
From what I’ve heard, DOC is setting up traps, so I think that DOC is doing their best to control the population of pests.
By Rida
I think it is a good idea to keep our pests under control, but maybe don't just have traps that can kill them. Maybe just set up some normal traps so that way when more children pass through you can take a look at it up close or just see them in the forest. I think this way is better because it does keep them under control, but at the same time you can still have some around for maybe entertainment purposes. I do think DOC is doing a good job though.
ReplyDeleteBy Hayley
I think DOC are doing a good job with keeping pests under control, however it is not very cost efficient, they spend up to 5 MILLION NZD a year, just on traps for stoats and rats!
ReplyDeleteA way that they could save money on those traps, would be to use less bait, or just smaller amounts. But instead of using food, they could just put a scent, that comes from the trap, and have it be very dark.
That way, yes it will probably be less efficient on rats, but how much money will we save? A LOT!
By ᗩᗩᖇᗝᑎ
I think that doc is doing a good enough job at the moment because there still killing them. Although it isn't very cost efficient i don't see how they can do it in any other way and how to do it any faster than it is
ReplyDeleteAlistair
I think that using traps is of no use because the animals that get caught might be injured instead of dying. It is cruel and mean although it was not done on intention. DOC is probably trying their best to provide a healthy environment to the people but sometimes things might get out of hands.
ReplyDeleteI think the traps are good so we can catch the pests. But bad as well because the native birds/Animals mite get stuck in one of them too. I think that They should find a different way to catch the pests so they don't catch the native birds/Animals.
ReplyDeleteBy Charlotte
I think that using traps are good but not the best way of helping our native animals, and poison isn't really the best idea either because they both might be encountered by our native animals and ingested (the poison) or trapped (the traps).
ReplyDeleteI think we could come up with a different way of helping the environment, like we could trap possums but not kill them, and ship them off to Australia where they're endangered.
But I also think DOC is doing the best the can right now to face this problem.
Were taking risks because the native birds and animals may see some of those as food and some children may be curious and touch it. But I think it’s for the best because our native birds and animals need to be safe and not be eaten. I think they should had made faster actions if they had many of these problems could have been avoided. I’d also like to recommend a safe humane way to solve the pest problem. It may take several years but I believe we will find a safe solution for the natives and the environment.
ReplyDelete- TAIA
I think that using traps and poison is a good idea to protect our native wildlife, although I do also understand why people protest against this.
ReplyDeleteBut at the moment I think traps and poison are just about the only way to go.
I'm not saying that a better way of getting pests out of here can't be invented, it's just that DOC don't get enough funding to research this. They use traps that keep the numbers down and are affordable so they can get more out there.
And if you disagree with that then think twice because the people that do support this they are the people that support a pest free NZ, a NZ that that could thrive with native life.
By Joseph
I think doc are doing a good job but cost wise they are using 5 million $ every year to try and kill rats and possums.Also I think using the 1800 pellets are dangerous because endangered birds or small children could eat them and get sick or maybe die.
ReplyDeleteI think that traps are a good idea for catching possums, stokes, rats etc. but on MY opinion I think that actually killing them is not the right thing to do. Instead of killing them i think DOC should come up with some sort of trap that captures it without hurting it. We could some open space to keep the possums until they die from no food or water and make this MASSIVE underground 'hole' with a hatch on top so you could chuck the possum in the hole and close the hatch. I wouldn't be quite sure what to do after the hole filled up but I am sure DOC would find somewhere to put them. This is why we should keep traps, but just change how they work. I think this idea for a new sort of trap would work really well because it is safer and healthier for our enviroment.
ReplyDeleteI think that DOC are doing well at keeping possums out of our enviroment but with this new idea I think that they could do even better.
Sam
I reckon using traps is effective and decreases the risk of harming innocent creatures. However it is a lot more expensive and time consuming then other ways you could do it.
ReplyDelete1080 is a lot cheaper but people have different opinions and it's probably too risky to use .
I think it's good that DOC is considering both types and keeping an open mind to which option might be better.
-Bianca