Invasive species

I spend much of my spare time at home working on the property, trying to clear it of invasive species. I found that there is much effort and dollars being spent on the same in NZ. Originally, NZ had only a few types of mammals (seals, sea lions, and bats), but the first settlers (the Maori), brought Polynesian rats with them for food. Another big invader was brought over from Australia, and that is the possum (not like the possum at home). There are active hunting, trapping and poisoning programs to try and control this population. The fur on the possum is used for a number of things, and mixed with Merino wool for cloths. Both of these species are very hard on native birds that had evolved with little predation.

Also, there are a wide variety of plants that they are working to control. They have strict controls and questions at customs to try and prevent further introduction of species. This includes inspection of soles of shoes to see if there is any dirt in the tracks.