Thread: Nelson Lakes getting the Green rain over 33000ha in July...better get into it.

Originally Posted by sore head stoat

No rats die with 1080 as you know... Yes 50% of the tagged kea died from 1080 and that is a big embarrassing loss . I think as i have said previously DOC dont get it right all the time. There is plenty of information though that would suggest that the remaining kea will breed succesfully [they will bloody need to] to make up the losses. To do nothing is to ensure the failure of the kea population. You can see in the link from 2009 to 2014 ONLY 2% of nests in areas without predator control were successful, those figures will ensure the demise of the kea population !
https://www.doc.govt.nz/our-work/tia...g-results/kea/

The unfortunate thing with that linked study is that there is no science. Kea nest high, high above the range of cats and rats and stoats. There is no prey up in the rocks to attract predators, so the Kea nest unmolested until poisoned. I am sure that a bush area with only rock outcrops for nesting can be found for the purpose of justifying predation numbers, to that end the 'study' doesn't say where the nests where that were monitored but I bet they weren't way above the bushline.