Interesting report in todays Herald. Doc's monitoring shows that they are getting a 12% kill rate of Kea where they drop 1080. Initial reading says that only 24 Kea were killed over several years, but read a bit more and that is 24 out of 199 that were being monitored which is just a bit more than a 12% kill rate. So highly endangered population of a bird that lives no where else in the world and DOC claim that a 12% population kill rate is OK because 1080 is cheap. The fine for killing a Kea is $100k or 6 months, so we obviously put a very high value on protecting them. What this says is that the value isn't quite as high if it is DOC funds being spent I guess. 

So DOC is happy with a 12% death rate of kea,yet they will not attend westhaven to remove a sealoin which has benn there for a few months as it has not bitten anyone?

Thanks Dave,another site and its all doom and gloom.From dogs wont leave vessel to children refusing to get out of car as seal may attack them..

When is this going to end?!

Tagit wrote: Not quite sure of how that comparison works? Most people down here see the Leopard Seal as an attraction rather than a real menace. He/she did eyeball me as I was walking along the marina one day but I don't really think of it as a serious threat. Fun to watch it catching sea gulls though. National Geographic stuff in your work place.