NEW ZEALAND TO WIPE OUT PREDATORS IN BID TO SAVE BIRDS|保育本土鳥類 紐西蘭號召滅鼠全民總動員

Many of New Zealand's unique bird species are under threat from rats, stoats and possums. Warm weather has created ideal breeding conditions for forest predators which kill 25 million birds a year. Now a radical plan is underway to make the country predator-free by 2050. Visitors flock to the Zealandia sanctuary on the outskirts of New Zealand capital Wellington to get close to an array of the country's unique bird species. To save these native species from extinction, nine months ago, New Zealand government announced to wipe out every last one of the nuisance animals that threaten them. The government believes that such action at a national level can help to achieve a predator-free goal by 2050. ==MAGGIE BARRY New Zealand's Minister of Conservation== There's been a level of enthusiasm for getting rid of these unwanted predators at a community level for probably about the last 20 or 30 years. By the Crown taking leadership, it's enabled communities to look at really joining forces and making sure that they can combine with other neighborhoods, get funding for traps, for poisons where they feel it's appropriate. About 85 million years ago, when mammals have not yet evolved, New Zealand splitted away from the super-continent Gondwanaland, and became a bird haven. Due to a lack of natural enemies, many birds became flightless, making them easy pickings for predators such as rats and stoats when they arrived. The number of bird species fell as their eggs were eaten and habitats were destroyed. ==JAMES RUSSELL Sr Lecturer in Conservation Biology, University of Auckland== When humans arrived, they brought these terrestrial mammals that walk on four legs and hunt by smell. And that was something very new to our birds, which were used to being hunted by sight. And so when a bird freezes to avoid being seen, it just makes it even easier for a rat or a cat to smell it and walk up to it. Many local communities, companies, environmentalists and scientists have embraced the government project and are working to contribute to the eradication effort, even though the plan has been described as a moon shot for conservation. ==WAYNE LINKLATER, Assoc Prof of Conservation Science, Victoria University of Wellington== It's a fantasy science-fiction. I characterize the predator-free 2050 as extremist environmentalism. I don't think it's achievable, I don't think it's necessary to protect the biodiversity most vulnerable, and I don't think it's the best way to lift New Zealand's environment and lift its biodiversity. Some critics said that the plan should target feral cats as well.They also worried that mice numbers might explode if rats disappear. However, advocates of the policy are still optimistic about the country one day becoming a safe environment for its unique wildlife, including its national symbol, the rare kiwi bird. TRANSLATED BY ARIEL HSIEH