Kiwis aim to leave rat race behind

Country wants to be pest-free by 2050 to save birds

WELLINGTON // Their ability to travel, multiply and spread disease have always made rats one of mankind’s greatest pests.

New Zealand says it is time to wipe them out – every last one. Prime minister John Key announced yesterday a plan to completely rid the country of rats and some other nuisance animals, including possums and stoats, by 2050.

Wellington is hoping a ratfree countryside will give a boost to native birds, including the famous kiwi. Many species are threatened with extinction because rats and other pests feast on their eggs and compete with them for food. Some scientists doubted the plan, saying it would be difficult to achieve in a nation similar in size to the United Kingdom.

Mr Key said the goal would require the help of everyone from philanthropists to indigenous Maori tribes.

“This is the most ambitious conservation project attempted anywhere in the world, but we believe if we work together as a country we can achieve it.” He said the government would initially contribute NZ$28 million (Dh72m) over four years for the programme.

The department of conservation has eradicated rats from several small islands using traps, poisons and baits. It has also managed some areas on the main islands to make them safer for native birds.

But it would require a massive escalation in efforts to completely wipe out the pests.

“I really do think it’s possible,” said ecologist James Russell, from the University of Auckland, who wrote about the idea before. “It will require people working in every nook and corner of the country.”

Jacqueline Beggs, another ecologist from the university, said eliminating pests from small, uninhabited islands was one thing, but getting everyone from farmers to anti-government types to agree on the idea would prove much more difficult, if not impossible.

“It’s definitely a fantastic challenge,” she said. “It will really stretch the boundaries.”

She said that the goal could distract from other environmental issues and create new problems, such as an explosion in the mouse population.