New Zealand authorities spent half a million dollars to eradicate stoats
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The war on ermine cost the New Zealand authorities half a million dollars
The New Zealand authorities spent about half a million New Zealand dollars (about 300 thousand US dollars) to capture and eliminate a predatory stoat that threatened rare species of animals living on the island of Cholki (Chalk Island).
How writes CNN For a quarter of a century, a remote corner of southwest New Zealand has been a haven for endangered species, including the world’s only flightless parrot and a lizard found nowhere else on Earth. Chalki Island in the Pacific is home to the endemic Te Kakahu skink, the iconic spotted kiwi, and the kakapo, the only parrot that cannot fly and of which there are believed to be fewer than 250 left in the wild.
So in August 2022, when conservation officials discovered a lone male stoat on the island, a weasel-like mammal native to Eurasia and North America that preys on a variety of animals and birds, they knew they had to act to save this fragile ecosystem—even if it costs a pretty penny.
The operation to eliminate the stoat took eight months, involving specialists, sniffer dogs, security cameras, helicopters and boats. As a result, the operation was completed successfully, but not all New Zealanders understood the essence of it, and they took to social networks to criticize the costs of fighting stoats. “What did they use to kill him – missiles?” asked representatives of the New Zealand Taxpayers Union. “Inaction would be more costly,” the authorities retorted.
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