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Kawau about-turn
As someone who is now about as far from Kawau as you can get (I’m currently located in Yosemite Village, California) but who has deep and long term ties to Kawau Island, I want to pick up on a recent article that you ran and that has been forwarded to me. The article was about pest poison posing problems on Kawau.
For me the issue is not just about the inhumanity of the poisoning with toxins that are banned in most places in the world, it is also the sequence that has been put in place and the changes from what was communicated to the community. I understood that the toxin poisoning, if it had to be used at all, would be a last resort. This is what was outlined in the Pest Eradication Plan and also communicated in various community outreach meetings.
That is, the process would start with the hunters and shooting and then hunters and the use of indicator dogs to get any remaining wallaby and possums. Toxins would only be resorted to if there was still a wallaby or two that may have escaped the hunters.
However, it now seems to me that this was never the intention. As soon the programme got the go ahead, and permits for the use of poisons were issued, the process was turned on its head.
Now, whenever their survey indicates there may be a significant number of wallabies in an area, the toxins are used first, not last as we were told.
The programme now appears to be to first reduce the number of rats and bait competition by using brodifacoum. That is then being followed by a pre-feeding of harmless baits before the use of 1080 and cyanide. All that happens before any hunting or shooting.
I believe these inhumane toxins are being used as the main means of eradication, not the last resort that I had understood and was outlined to the community.
Furthermore, I find it incredulous that the approved plan acknowledges and finds it acceptable to potentially wipe out the island’s entire population of native and protected weka because of the use of these toxins with downstream secondary poisoning consequences. Their plan mitigates this by capturing a representative population of 100 or so weka to be released back into the wild after the successful eradication of pests.
Graham Dawson, Kawau Island
Auckland Council principal specialist, natural environment operations Lisa Tolich responds:
Thermal assisted hunting, with the support of indicator dogs and trapping remain our preferred methodology, however this needs to be supported with the use of toxins in locations where wallabies and possums are in high numbers – an approach that has been well communicated to the Kawau community. To be clear, 1080 and Feratox toxins have only been used on wallabies once in the operation so far and form part of a wider eradication programme.
This approach has not changed from the outset and the community have been kept up-to-date throughout the progression from the feasibility assessment to the detailed operational planning and delivery phases, with regular communications, including the project newsletters, the project website, community forum, direct communication with property owners near toxin operations and information guides for landowners.
As this is an eradication programme (as opposed to pest ‘control’), we’re relying on a range of tools in our tool kit. You can find details on this in our operational plan which was shared via the Community Forum.
In addition, a separate private property permissions process involved the project team meeting individual landowners on the island, to discuss the methodologies presented in the operational plan and make decisions relating to their individual private property access permissions. This included options relating to each of the control methodologies as well as their preferred notification process.
Further updates relating to the approach and progress of the operation occur at regular Community Forum meetings and have included themed topics including planning relating to the 1080 and Feratox toxin operation. These are recorded and the link is shared with those who could not attend at the meeting.
Where field camera and drone use indicate that numbers are high within specific locations in a management area, targeted toxin is required to support drone assisted hunting that is already underway (complementary tools as opposed to an either-or approach).
This is not an aerial operation, and the ground-based operation allows for accurate placement of bait in areas that we know are hotspots of wallaby and possum activity. Toxins are only used on properties that have given written permission for us to do so.
Rodent interference has been managed by the use of rodent bait, including brodifacoum within bait station locations prior to the use of 1080 and Feratox toxins. These locations have been monitored with field cameras throughout bait deployment so any interactions with target species and non-target species are recorded and the methodology adapted if need be. The bait is deployed in short pulses, and all uneaten bait removed at the conclusion each pulse.
The monitoring of stations and checking for carcasses is a requirement of this operation and we can confirm there were no interactions of weka with the stations, nor were there any weka carcasses recovered following checking of operational and buffer areas by the project team.
With the assistance of a wallaby technical advisory group, the team are reviewing findings from the first targeted 1080 and Feratox toxin operation in the southern end of the island. These findings will be used to inform further toxin treatment work, ensuring that we can adapt our approach in response to higher-than-expected population numbers as well as leveraging an increasingly better understanding of wallaby behaviour.
Changed democracy
There was a perspective article in the NZ Herald recently, where the writer expressed concern over the lack of interest in the local body elections. Of particular concern was the small number of people seeking public office, with many uncontested seats. Reasons were given for this lack of interest and the negative impact it is having on our democracy.
However, in my opinion, the major cause of this complacency was not mentioned.
Over the last 50 years, our democracy has changed substantively. In former times, the elected representatives of the people formulated policy and drafted laws. Then employed officials, known as “civil servants”, would administer and apply these regulations with sensitivity.
Today we live with a different form of governance, known as a bureaucratic form of democracy that has evolved over five decades. Now employed public officials, collectively known as bureaucrats, create policy and draft laws, mainly based on the RMA and health and safety laws passed by central government. As a result of this change, one of the main columns supporting our democracy has been removed. This is that those passing laws that affect the lives and livelihoods of “the people” must be elected by the people.
When parliament presents laws, they are not only debated at length in the House, but also in the media, with interested parties including specialists able to present submissions via the select committee process. Debate ensures that the law will work in practice and in the wider interest of the majority of the people. A truly democratic process.
In stark contrast, council bureaucrats draft laws behind closed doors and announce the date of enforcement. No input from specialists or those directly affected. This does not sit well in any democracy. Bureaucrats now have more power than police, who have protocols to limit their power.
I believe some would choose to not vote because those that hold the reins of power are not on the ballot, so no change is possible to the current system.
Gordon Levet, on behalf of the Landowners and Contractors Association
Similarities bridge an ocean
Reporter-at-large Hernan Diaz Lopez records his first impressions of Warkworth:
The distance from San Martín, Buenos Aires (my hometown) to Warkworth is around 10,000 kilometres. It was my first time here, and when you are far away, you naturally try to find similarities – those little things that make you feel safe and secure, because human beings need something that feels like home.
Comparison is inevitable: “This church has the same windows as the one in my neighbourhood, and the local butcher has the same kind of meat we eat in Argentina.” I did it; I’m not going to lie.
But Warkworth had an ace up its sleeve. Nothing monumental, nothing you would remember forever, but something quietly special. Warkworth then played its first card: its small commercial area ends on the banks of the Mahurangi River. It’s nothing I hadn’t seen before, but it carries a calmness and serenity that invites you to lie on the grass. The sound of the river is the perfect music for relaxation.
Curious about where the path along the riverbank would lead, Warkworth waited with its second card: the Sesquicentennial Walk. It’s nothing more than a short hike through the heart of town, but it’s highly recommended, especially if you take your lunch and share it with the birds that occasionally swoop down to the river to drink or find a snack.
What truly surprised me, though, was how people walked around. Good vibes everywhere – people smiling and eager to say “hi” when they noticed I was a visitor. One of them, hearing me speak Spanish, approached and greeted me with a few words in my language. I took it as a sign of respect, but also as gratitude that I was there. That was the final card Warkworth laid on the table.
Maybe it was just coincidence. Maybe the cards played in my favour today. Maybe I was lucky to feel all that good energy. But in that moment, more than 10,000 kilometres from home, on the other side of the globe, I didn’t feel that far away.
