Masting and Poison
- Response to the claims in “The science behind the Department of Conservation’s beech mast response and predator control”
Many different species mast (including hinau, rimu, kahikatea, tussock, pigeonwood, beech) at varying times, and can fuel rodent plagues and other productivity - Beech masts are associated with increases in mice (only rats to a lesser extent)
- 1080 is not good at killing mice
- Masts do not reliably predict rat or stoat plagues
- 1080 is not good at controlling stoats
- Responses to masting are short-lived
- Observer interference has probably caused the low success rates recorded for monitored bird nests
- Predation is difficult to identify
- 1080 causes rat plagues and increased mouse numbers
- There is a need for proper ecological studies of 1080
- NZ’s ecosystems have been coping with rats for centuries and predators for many decades