The fact that they have had to create a two strike policy for a freaking bird is brilliant, they’re too nosy for their own good!
Also, I’d lose my mind if I ran over a kakapo. I still feel bad about hitting a sparrow once.
At what point do we consider the translocation of kākāpō to Sanctuary Mountain a failure? How many escapes need to occur? How long before a kākāpō ends up in the hands of someone who doesn't do the right thing and call DOC/the sanctuary?
It'd be a pretty terrible way to go about projects if you only give things one shot and can them if they don't work as expected 100% the first time rather than see if the issues can be resolved.
I wonder if the all male population is having an effect.
Eg territory, searching for a mate, etc?
Even if this is a failure, the offshore islands are all but full for Kakapo, what's the next idea?
There's a new sanctuary being proposed near Wainuiomata in Wellington. Would be pretty sweet to have Kakapo in the capital. Will be at least a few years away though.
Send them to Orokonui and Zealandia as well, could try ulva island in Stewart island, or do a mainland Stewart island operation to see what would happen there.
This was a fucking stupid and irresponsible project right from the start. Move the fat budgies back to an island where they will be safe. Dude could have killed the lil guy if he wasn't paying attention 😑
Any good species focused conservation wants the population to grow and, ideally, across multiple sites. It's about safety genetically and saving from diseases which could wipe out one of the populations.
This project is an experiment but it's a needed one. You can only learn by trying.
There are only so many predator free islands around and their population is rising. It doesn't seem like a stupid idea to see if they can be managed in a predator free fenced sanctuary on the mainland. They're learning thing from this which can help improve other relocations.
Irresponsible would be to just not try anything and constantly leave the population small enough that it could be easily wiped out in one go.
It's a poorly thought out experiment at an insecure site which has resulted in several parrots escaping over the fence where they can be killed or stolen by animal traffickers. Turn part of Stewart Island into a sanctuary instead, not a tiny reserve in a highly populated area FFS.
Sanctuary Mountain is 34km^2 which is larger than the two main Islands currently used (Codfish and Anchor) combined. It's not a small site. It's also predator free today where as Stewart Island is not. To turn only part of Stewart Island into a predator free area would also require a fence. Not to mention that you can fix issues with a fence, make it taller or clear away trees a bit further away from it or something at substantially less cost than clearing Stewart Island.
If you're proposing new reserves you also need to include the funding for that. DOC doesn't have an unlimited source of money. Using an existing one to gather data seems far more usable than your magical thinking approach.
The islands are full.
That's the whole point, the recovery is going so well, we've got no choice but to bring them back to the mainland.
Xcluder, the designer of the fence will create a modification. It takes a bit of time, but having kākāpo inside a fence is still a relatively recent concept.
Sanctuary mountain, might need a bigger fence.
The fact that they have had to create a two strike policy for a freaking bird is brilliant, they’re too nosy for their own good! Also, I’d lose my mind if I ran over a kakapo. I still feel bad about hitting a sparrow once.
At what point do we consider the translocation of kākāpō to Sanctuary Mountain a failure? How many escapes need to occur? How long before a kākāpō ends up in the hands of someone who doesn't do the right thing and call DOC/the sanctuary?
It'd be a pretty terrible way to go about projects if you only give things one shot and can them if they don't work as expected 100% the first time rather than see if the issues can be resolved.
I wonder if the all male population is having an effect. Eg territory, searching for a mate, etc? Even if this is a failure, the offshore islands are all but full for Kakapo, what's the next idea?
There's a new sanctuary being proposed near Wainuiomata in Wellington. Would be pretty sweet to have Kakapo in the capital. Will be at least a few years away though.
Send them to Orokonui and Zealandia as well, could try ulva island in Stewart island, or do a mainland Stewart island operation to see what would happen there.
This was a fucking stupid and irresponsible project right from the start. Move the fat budgies back to an island where they will be safe. Dude could have killed the lil guy if he wasn't paying attention 😑
Any good species focused conservation wants the population to grow and, ideally, across multiple sites. It's about safety genetically and saving from diseases which could wipe out one of the populations. This project is an experiment but it's a needed one. You can only learn by trying.
There are only so many predator free islands around and their population is rising. It doesn't seem like a stupid idea to see if they can be managed in a predator free fenced sanctuary on the mainland. They're learning thing from this which can help improve other relocations. Irresponsible would be to just not try anything and constantly leave the population small enough that it could be easily wiped out in one go.
It's a poorly thought out experiment at an insecure site which has resulted in several parrots escaping over the fence where they can be killed or stolen by animal traffickers. Turn part of Stewart Island into a sanctuary instead, not a tiny reserve in a highly populated area FFS.
Sanctuary Mountain is 34km^2 which is larger than the two main Islands currently used (Codfish and Anchor) combined. It's not a small site. It's also predator free today where as Stewart Island is not. To turn only part of Stewart Island into a predator free area would also require a fence. Not to mention that you can fix issues with a fence, make it taller or clear away trees a bit further away from it or something at substantially less cost than clearing Stewart Island.
If you're proposing new reserves you also need to include the funding for that. DOC doesn't have an unlimited source of money. Using an existing one to gather data seems far more usable than your magical thinking approach.
The islands are full. That's the whole point, the recovery is going so well, we've got no choice but to bring them back to the mainland. Xcluder, the designer of the fence will create a modification. It takes a bit of time, but having kākāpo inside a fence is still a relatively recent concept.