The reason New Zealand spent 300,000 USD to kill a mink

New Zealand authorities are willing to spend $300,000 on a campaign to destroy an ezmin that appeared on an island with many rare animals.

For the past 25 years, a remote spot in southwestern New Zealand has provided a predator-free sanctuary for threatened species, including the world's only flightless parrot and giant lizard. can be found anywhere else. Chalky Island , a 5.2km-wide rugged green expanse in the Fiordland region, is home to Te Kākahu skink lizards, kiwis and kākāpō parrots with fewer than 250 left in the wild. So, in August 2022, when conservation staff on the island discovered a male ezmin , a mammal native to Eurasia and North America that hunts birds and many other prey , they forced to take action to save the fragile ecosystem on the island, according to CNN .

The ezmin was spotted by camera on Chalky Island. (Photo: New Zealand Ministry of Conservation).

The New Zealand Department of Conservation (DOC) launched a major campaign with the participation of trapping experts, sniffer dogs, camera traps, helicopters and boats for 8 months to trap and kill this mink. "This is a huge victory but we cannot relax now. The island is one of the biggest priority areas for biodiversity in Fiordland. We need to do everything we can to protect vulnerable species are living there ," said Rebecca Teele, a DOC expert.

In March, the New Zealand Parliament's environment committee revealed the cost of the mission to capture the ezmin was $300,000. The large amount of money caused a lot of controversy on social networks, but authorities said the money was worth it. "If we don't act, we will pay a greater price, with the potential to devastate the kākāpō parrot population. We may have to remove the kākāpō parrots from the island by plane at huge expense and with nowhere to go." bring them in. The opportunity cost of not catching that ezmin will reach millions of dollars ," said Aaron Fleming, director of operations at DOC.

Along with ferrets, ezmin were introduced to New Zealand in the late 19th century to control rabbits from ravaging sheep pastures, but they also destroyed the unique bird populations there, contributing to the extinction of some subspecies, according to DOC. New predators kill about 25 million native birds in New Zealand every year, with about 4,000 species threatened or endangered.

In an effort to protect them, New Zealand has spent more than 300 million USD since 2016 to pursue the goal of becoming a predator-free country by 2050. Under the program, the government plans to eradicate rats, possums, ferrets and ezmin.

According to Carolyn M. King, emeritus professor at the University of Waikato, ezmin are small, energetic carnivores that effectively kill native birds and lizards. They are small enough to crawl into rabbit and mouse burrows, even the nests of many birds, and struggle to wriggle inside. They are also very good swimmers. Research on a small group of ezmin shows that nearly half can swim continuously for more than an hour, leading to the risk of them invading islands 3 to 5 km from the mainland, including Chalky Island.

Chalky Island and the neighboring Passage Islands have been predator-free since 1999 after the first ezmin eradication campaign. For Fleming, the recent appearance of the ezmin further highlights the importance of the 2050 plan.