So long possums

The Government’s rather “aspirational” plan to make New Zealand predator free by 2050 has brought some, ahem, interesting viewpoints out of the woodwork. Some media outlets have been contacted by more extreme members of the anti-1080 movement, claiming the anti-predator policy was part of a wider conspiracy to remove “white men” from New Zealand. Less extreme is the view of NZ First MP Richard Prosser, who argues native birds have co-existed with predators for hundreds of years and there is a risk in upsetting this “uneasy equilibrium”. Prosser argued, “in some areas, thanks to diminished numbers of birds such as the kereru, possums may be the only agents capable of spreading large tree seeds.”