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Macquarie Island

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    #2
    ytpe2r5bxkn0c1
    Closed Accounts Posts: 32,688 ✭✭✭✭ytpe2r5bxkn0c1


    No offence marlin but we have poison and bait problems closer to home to worry about. :(


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    #3
    Birdnuts
    Registered Users Posts: 9,658 ✭✭✭Birdnuts


    marlin vs wrote: »
    And these people are going back in April to finish the job,lay bait and piss off without monitoring it.
    http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/10/22/3046031.htm

    http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/08/26/2994378.htm

    Staggering incompetence:mad: - alot of these species are already in trouble thanx to long-line industrial fishing etc.:(


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    #4
    marlin vs
    Registered Users Posts: 1,630 ✭✭✭marlin vs


    Maren Future Flutist wrote: »
    No offence marlin but we have poison and bait problems closer to home to worry about. :(
    I'm only giving a bit of information that I thought people might not know about, sorry for letting you know.


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    #5
    Birdnuts
    Registered Users Posts: 9,658 ✭✭✭Birdnuts


    marlin vs wrote: »
    I'm only giving a bit of information that I thought people might not know about, sorry for letting you know.

    This is indeed a storey that people who care about conservation would be interested in - here:http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056039861 is a long running thread for posting such international stories if your interested:)


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    #6
    CJhaughey
    Registered Users Posts: 14,906 ✭✭✭✭CJhaughey


    The reason they are laying poison is to kill the rats that eat the young of the seabirds and their eggs.
    If they don't kill the rats and other rodents off the birds will be having a hard time anyway.
    I guess they are damned if they do and damned if they don't.
    Most people don't even know where Macquarie Island is anyway and only for the fact that some birds got the bait they wouldn't have even heard about it.
    I wouldn't like the job, stuck in the middle of the southern ocean and freezinj your butt off to try and kill rodents.
    The parks dept don't have an unlimited budget to exterminate introduced species and the other ways of eradication cost a lot more.
    Having shooters or trappers would cost a small fortune and wouldn't be half as effective as poison.
    You have to look at it pragmatically and weigh up whether it is worth a few birds now and no rodents or whether the rats, mice and rabbits should be allowed to breed unhindered?
    What would you do?


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    #7
    Feargal as Luimneach
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,139 ✭✭✭Feargal as Luimneach


    CJhaughey wrote: »
    The reason they are laying poison is to kill the rats that eat the young of the seabirds and their eggs.
    If they don't kill the rats and other rodents off the birds will be having a hard time anyway.
    I guess they are damned if they do and damned if they don't.
    Most people don't even know where Macquarie Island is anyway and only for the fact that some birds got the bait they wouldn't have even heard about it.
    I wouldn't like the job, stuck in the middle of the southern ocean and freezinj your butt off to try and kill rodents.
    The parks dept don't have an unlimited budget to exterminate introduced species and the other ways of eradication cost a lot more.
    Having shooters or trappers would cost a small fortune and wouldn't be half as effective as poison.
    You have to look at it pragmatically and weigh up whether it is worth a few birds now and no rodents or whether the rats, mice and rabbits should be allowed to breed unhindered?
    What would you do?
    Yip you correct, they had to do the same on Lundy island to try and protect Puffins and manx shearwater http://www.bbc.co.uk/devon/content/articles/2005/06/08/lundy_rats_feature.shtml
    There kind of trapped between a rock and a hard place.


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    #8
    marlin vs
    Registered Users Posts: 1,630 ✭✭✭marlin vs


    I know why they are trying to kill the rat's, did you ever hear of laying poison in crawl spaces such as pipes and other places where bird's can't enter,professional baiters should know this! accidents happen but it's not acceptable when it happens to proffesional people whose job it's supposed to be.


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    #9
    Birdnuts
    Registered Users Posts: 9,658 ✭✭✭Birdnuts


    marlin vs wrote: »
    I know why they are trying to kill the rat's, did you ever hear of laying poison in crawl spaces such as pipes and other places where bird's can't enter,professional baiters should know this! accidents happen but it's not acceptable when it happens to proffesional people whose job it's supposed to be.

    Good point - I think this entire operation was poorly handled to say the least:(


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    #10
    Feargal as Luimneach
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,139 ✭✭✭Feargal as Luimneach


    marlin vs wrote: »
    I know why they are trying to kill the rat's, did you ever hear of laying poison in crawl spaces such as pipes and other places where bird's can't enter,professional baiters should know this! accidents happen but it's not acceptable when it happens to proffesional people whose job it's supposed to be.
    Was probably secondary poisoning, the birds probably ate poisoned rats.


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    #11
    Birdnuts
    Registered Users Posts: 9,658 ✭✭✭Birdnuts


    Feargal as Luimneach wrote: »
    Was probably secondary poisoning, the birds probably ate poisoned rats.


    They should have used warfarin or equivalent


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    #12
    Feargal as Luimneach
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,139 ✭✭✭Feargal as Luimneach


    Birdnuts wrote: »
    They should have used warfarin or equivalent
    Birds can be poisoned due to eating rats that have been poisoned with warfarin. Treated a sparrowhawk that had been poisoned with warfarin (had eaten a poisoned rat no doubt). He died:(


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    #13
    Birdnuts
    Registered Users Posts: 9,658 ✭✭✭Birdnuts


    Feargal as Luimneach wrote: »
    Birds can be poisoned due to eating rats that have been poisoned with warfarin. Treated a sparrowhawk that had been poisoned with warfarin (had eaten a poisoned rat no doubt). He died:(

    I thought is was recommeded for its lack of secondary poisoning affects - or am I thinking of some other product:confused:


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    #14
    Feargal as Luimneach
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,139 ✭✭✭Feargal as Luimneach


    Birdnuts wrote: »
    I thought is was recommeded for its lack of secondary poisoning affects - or am I thinking of some other product:confused:
    A good link explaining toxicity of warfarin poisoning. The second generations warfarins are especially lethal to birds like Barn owl ( that have eaten poisoned rats).
    http://www.barnowltrust.org.uk/infopage.html?Id=46


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    #15
    CJhaughey
    Registered Users Posts: 14,906 ✭✭✭✭CJhaughey


    marlin vs wrote: »
    I know why they are trying to kill the rat's, did you ever hear of laying poison in crawl spaces such as pipes and other places where bird's can't enter,professional baiters should know this! accidents happen but it's not acceptable when it happens to proffesional people whose job it's supposed to be.
    Not much in the way of tunnels on Macquarie and the weather is ****e most of the year.
    Being honest, most people incuding myself don't like poison.
    BUT in a situation like an isolated Island where there is feck all of anything poison is probably the least worst option.
    Honestly look at some photos of the place it is barren as all get out, I am not even sure there are any buildings there, it blows 50 kts most of the time and harder for the rest.
    What happened was they were prepared for some seabird losses, and prepared for a certain percentage.
    Then some individual with a zero-tolerance approach to bird losses got wind of it and blew it up, it really isn't a huge deal considering they are trying to clear an entire island of introduced species.
    How do you stop any fatalities when you have a massive area to cover?
    Can you imagine trying to eradicate rodents from an island the size of Bere Island?
    Even landing on those places is difficult.


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