New Zealand is about to conduct a country-wide pest extermination

Key said the costs of introduced predators are high: around 3.3 billion New Zealand dollars every year (that’s about USD 2.3 billion), along with the deaths of native species.

The likes of other invasive predatory species, such as rats and weasels, have served to put various native birds, such as the kiwi, in a precarious situation.

The effort builds on previous attempts to rid New Zealand of invasive predators, such as Project Taranaki Mounga, which is an attempt to clear Egmont National Park of predators.

New Zealand has set a goal of eradicating all non-native predators within 35 years in order to protect the country’s indigenous wildlife.

Primary Industries Minister Nathan Guy says the goal of a Predator Free New Zealand by 2050 will have major positive impacts for farmers and the wider primary sector.

Green Party conservation spokesperson Kevin Hague is delighted the government wants New Zealand to be predator free but said it would have to “completely reverse” its present direction on conservation in order to achieve the target.

While a ban on predators may sound cruel, unusual, and ripped straight out of popular kid’s movie Zootopia, it’s important to keep in mind that before the arrival of humans, New Zealand’s terrestrial ecosystems had no significant predation.

“WWF-New Zealand has been a long-term supporter of predator control initiatives through the Habitat Protection Fund, Environmental Education Action Fund, Conservation Innovation Awards and Reconnecting Northland”, Mr Howe said.

“This is the most ambitious project attempted anywhere in the world, but we believe if we all work together as a country we can achieve it. For the first time technology is starting to make feasible what previously seemed like an unattainable dream”.

The company will drive the programme alongside the private sector and will work with communities.

“New Zealanders have rightly taken great pride in our conservation efforts to date”.

That means rats, possums, stoats, ferrets, and feral cats, all introduced from foreign countries and responsible for the deaths of millions of native birds each year, will have to go, Radio New Zealand reports.