Lucky Escapes and Nasty Surprises (1884–1920)

Abstract

Decades of justifiable regret about the colonial government’s rabbit control policies should not disguise relief at the surprising number of natural enemies proposed for introduction that were not officially approved. They include two species which are serious pests of wildlife in other countries. The red fox in Australia has been responsible for massive damage to small native marsupials, but was prohibited from New Zealand in 1867. One of the small Asian mongoose species was twice actually introduced by private landholders, in numbers potentially sufficient for establishment. Neither propagule survived, and the government was strongly advised against trying again. Proposals to introduce the pine marten, Patagonian grey fox, Scottish wild cat, Australian eastern quoll and California burrowing owl were all rejected. By contrast, the brushtail possum, considered to be a harmless fur-bearing vegetarian, turned out to be a very unpleasant surprise. Possums, many times more abundant than in Australia, seriously damage native trees unused to browsing, destroy the eggs and chicks of native birds, and transmit bovine tuberculosis to cattle. The European hedgehog is another unexpected tragedy for New Zealand’s endemic ground fauna. Hedgehogs, also very abundant, destroy huge numbers of invertebrates needed by kiwi and the eggs of ground-nesting birds.