Discussed at the September 2011 meeting of the Tūtira Maungahururu Visionary Group – provided by the Hawke’s Bay Regional Council - distributed by the Guthrie-Smith Arboretum and Outdoor Education Centre - placed in the windbreak behind our home.

Stoats were introduced into New Zealand to control rabbits and hares but are now a major threat to the native bird population. Immediately prior to human settlement New Zealand did not have any land based mammals apart from bats, but both Māori and European settlers introducing a wide variety of animals.

Warnings about the dangers to bird life from stoats were given by scientists in New Zealand and Britain.  The warnings were ignored and stoats began to be introduced from Britain in the 1880s, then, within six years drastic declines in bird populations were noticed.