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Pet or Pest? True Stories |
Controlling pest cats, dogs and ferrets The importance of controlling pest cats, dogs and ferrets has become very obvious as more is learnt about the impact these animals have on populations of native New Zealand wildlife – read some of the examples below. |
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Department of Conservation currently controls ferrets in a few specific areas, such as
Trounson Kauri Park in Northland and black stilt nesting areas in the Mackenzie Basin,
through intensive trapping and poisoning. Feral cats and dogs are also controlled by DOC.
There are several offshore islands where cats have been removed to save native bird
species from becoming extinct, for example Mangere, Cuvier and Tiritiri Matangi Islands. The Department of Conservation, councils, land owners and conservation groups like Forest and Bird work together to reduce the damage these pests cause. Pet owners can help too. To protect native species there are laws about where you are not allowed to take your pet dog or ferret. Go to Pet or Pest? Laws to learn more. |
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| CATS The Stephens Island wren became extinct because of the lighthouse keeper’s cat… The only European to ever see the Stephens Island wren alive was David Lyall, the lighthouse keeper on Stephens Island in 1894. Stephens Island is the northern-most island in the Marlborough Sounds. David Lyall reported that his cat had brought him 17 birds, which were all the same species (they were later named the Stephens Island wren). The cat hunted the wren, which could not fly, and the wren became extinct soon after it was discovered. In fact, the Stephens Island wren was discovered and then became extinct within the space of a year. Tui, red-crowned parakeet, saddleback and pied tit populations became extinct on Cuvier Island, north-east of Coromandel Peninsula, mainly due to cat predation. Cats also significantly reduced numbers of lizards and invertebrates. In 1970 all cats were removed from the island and there has been an increase in native birds, lizards and invertebrates since then. Cats were introduced to Mangere Island in the Chathams, to control rabbits but also wiped out at least two species of seabirds and most forest birds by 1950. |
| DOGS In 1982 the blue penguin colony at Piha Beach, Auckland, was wiped out by dogs. In 1987 a German shepherd abandoned in Waitangi State Forest destroyed the kiwi population there. It killed about 500 of the 900 kiwi in just six months! In 1992 five puppies and two adult dogs had been running wild for several months in Whangaruru Forest, Northland, before being found and destroyed. Two of the puppies had kiwi remains in their stomachs. Dr Ray Pierce, a Whangarei Department of Conservation scientist said, "The dogs were likely to have had a serious impact on the forest wildlife, particularly kiwi. It is just another piece of evidence to say that dogs are a real problem for kiwi." On Saturday night, 20 January 2001,
56 blue penguins were killed in a dog attack at the Oamaru Creek penguin refuge. (For
details check 'The Press' and 'NZ Herald' newspapers.) |
| FERRETS The Department of Conservation noted that 35 little blue penguin chicks ‘disappeared’ from the Oamaru nesting site in 2000 season. A ferret was seen at the nesting site so DOC set traps. The ferret was caught, along with 4 young ferrets, and the predation at the site stopped. In 1994, three radio-tagged adult kiwi and five untagged kiwi in a Landcare Research study disappeared from Lake Waikaremoana within a month - and DOC is almost certain all eight were killed by ferrets. In the 1998-99 breeding season in Northland a male ferret killed at least five adult kiwi over a few months until it was trapped and killed. |
