1080 solution to avert kea deaths

DAVID HALLETT

ENDANGERED NATIVE: Bird repellant may be added to 1080 pest bait to prevent kea deaths.

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Bird repellant may be included in 1080 pest bait this year to prevent more deaths of the endangered kea.

Seven monitored kea died after an aerial 1080 drop in the Franz Josef area on the West Coast last year during a preliminary Department of Conservation (DOC) study on the impact of 1080 on kea.

The deaths jolted DOC, the Animal Health Board and the Kea Conservation Trust into committing to the annual $250,000 study.

DOC Nelson science officer Josh Kemp said the study used radio-tagging and kea counts to monitor populations at various pest-control sites.

Bird numbers illustrated the impact of combinations of pest-control methods used at the sites, including aerial 1080 drops and trapping, he said.

Applications have been lodged with the Environmental Risk Management Authority to run the trials and have repellants included in the bait.

The two repellants registered in New Zealand would be trialled next spring.

"The hard part will be putting kea off taking the baits without putting off rats and possums," Kemp said.

If the registered repellants were ineffective, research for alternatives could take five to 10 years, he said.

Kemp said he had been worried about the impact of aerial 1080 operations on kea since the 1990s.

The Franz Josef kea deaths had "shocked and stunned" DOC, he said. Kea were susceptible to trapping and poisoning because they were inquisitive, intelligent, not scared of new food and a similar size and weight to possums, he said.

One thousand to 5000 of the ground-nesting alpine parrots range across three million hectares of the South Island. One million hectares is rotationally treated with 1080.

"If kea populations are on the slippery downhill slope, we need to assess the role of 1080, the need for a bird repellant and if a repellant works," Kemp said.

- © Fairfax NZ News