Kea don't care whether 1080 repels deer

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2024-11-27 03:00

New Zealand

Photo by Sébastien Goldberg on Unsplash

1080 poison containing deer repellent is probably no more dangerous to wild kea than regular 1080, according to a study around Arthur's Pass and Westland. Cereal pellets mimicking 1080 pellets, half containing protein- and fat-rich deer repellent bait, were piled on the ground and monitored in six rounds of trials. Kea approached the bait over 500 times and ate it over 300 times - but while they spent longer interacting with the deer repellent bait, they didn't eat much more of it. The researchers conclude kea don't have a preference for the deer repellent bait, and that 1080 operations using such bait should not significantly increase risk to the birds.

Journal/
conference: New Zealand Journal of Zoology

Research:Paper

Organisation/s: Department of Conservation, Manaaki Whenua - Landcare Research, Wildlife Surveillance Ltd., Wyndon Aviation Ltd.

Funder: This work was conceived and funded by the Department of Conservation’s National Predator Control Programme as part of a research programme to investigate and implement risk mitigation methods to protect kea during landscape-scale predator control operations.

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