MAC Magazine 2019

STUDENT WRITING
68
New Zealand has many introduced species that have both
positive and negative impacts on our native environment.
Early settlers have introduced a number of these animals
and plants. Five of the most impactful species are rabbits,
mustelids, deer, cattle and pine trees.
Rabbits were introduced to New Zealand in the 1830s to make
it more like the English countryside, where they were shot as
a recreational sport. However in areas such as Central Otago
rabbits have eaten much of the expensive grass supplied
for cattle by farmers as well as burrowing out lots of dirt and
making the ground unproductive and unstable. As they can
reproduce up to six babies every two months they have
become more of a pest. Currently, nationwide, rabbits eat
almost $50 million worth of grass every year so some people
have invented ways to try to limit their numbers. Unfortunately
it would be almost impossible to completely eradicate them
without causing damage to other innocent animals and plants.
Methods to eradicate them have been those such as shooting,
poisoning and hole plugging. Hole plugging is when the
rabbits hole is blocked with dirt and rocks so that the rabbits
can’t escape to get food. They eventually starve to death.
However some more insightful ideas were attempted such as
introducing their natural predator mustelids to hunt them.
Mustelids such as stoats and ferrets were introduced in the
1870s to help control the ever growing rabbit population.
Although rabbit numbers stabilized for many years, native birds
and eggs were killed because they were a defenseless target
that would make for an easy meal. As a result of this many of
these native species are now endangered and millions of
dollars worth of government funding is being poured into
trapping and poisoning mustelids. The goal is to make New
Zealand predator free by 2050, so some islands and sanctuaries
are purely dedicated just to keep them alive for that day. From
that though another problem may arise. With all of the mustelids
gone from here rabbit numbers may rise again uncontrollably.
Another issue is 1080. Currently agencies such as DOC use the
controversial poison, 1080, to kill these predators. As 1080 is
large scale drop, many people are opposed to it because other
animals like deer also die from the poison.
New Zealand has many species of deer, most of which were
introduced in the mid 1800s. Deer came to introduce hunting
as a sport in the country. However deer thrived in the alpine
environments of the southern area, and by the 1930s, paid
deer cullers were employed to kill hundreds of thousands
of deer. Deer were killed mainly because of the damage in
the bush they were causing, purely as a result of their size
and destructive nature. Deer culling continued on late into
the 1900s until it was eventually stopped when deer farming
began in Central Otago. Nowadays deer farming makes
millions for New Zealand through the export of meat and
also the antler velvet which is used in medicine worldwide.
We have the largest deer farming industry in the country
in Central Otago and New Zealand is currently the largest
industry in the world with approximately one million deer
inside the fence. Still there are many wild deer but there is no
need to eradicate them as their numbers are kept steady by
recreational hunters such as myself. Though there are many
deer in New Zealand sheep and cattle outnumber them 20-1.
We try and try so hard to fit in
So much time is spent becoming ‘perfect’
All this time we try to figure out who we are,
who we want to be
Never realising the answer was standing before us all the while
We are who we are
Every one of us unique
In each and every way
Everything we do
The choices we make
They outline our future and show us who we truly are
The person truly in our heart and soul
JEMMA BRAKE, 9SP
Sheep were introduced to New Zealand by Captain James
Cook in 1773, the very first time a European strode our
shores. Cattle came not long after in the early 1800s. Since
then they have become by far the biggest industry in the
country and their products such as meat, wool and milk
have become world famous. However lots of native bush
has been cleared for them to graze on grass and in Central
Otago especially, thousands of dollars worth of water is
being used for irrigation. On top of that these animals
can pollute the air and the waterways. The methane that
comes from cows (poo, fart, burp) is a greenhouse gas
and emissions are contributing to climate change. Poo can
also end up in rivers and streams leading to heaps of our
waterways being deemed to be un-swimmable. On a high
note, farmers have made lots of money out of their animals
and many people are employed because of them, such as
shearers, farm workers, factory employees and vets. This
leads to sheep and beef being the two biggest industries in
the country ahead of forestry.
The forestry industry is built around pine trees which were
introduced to New Zealand in the 1870s by Californian gold
miners. They were planted to make an easily sustainable
wood and paper supply for the influx in population of the
area due to the Central Otago gold rush. Because they grow
fast and tall, and seed often, they became a very invasive
species that quickly spread out across the land suffocating
other plants from the sunlight, and invading native habitat.
Eradication methods include group fellings, poisoning and
if the situation is completely uncontrolled then forestry NZ
may buy the land and log it themselves. Nowadays there
are approximately two million pines (1,575,900 forestry
and about 450,000 privately planted); most of which are
logged and then shipped overseas to be made into either
paper, furniture or planks. Although New Zealand’s forestry
industry supplies only 1.1% of the worlds wood it makes $5
billion for our economy, as well as employing over 20,000
people. However almost 7% of NZ’s land area is planted up
with pines, much of which used to be native bush. Luckily, as
of 2019 though, the local population of pine trees is quite
small and fully under control. Thankfully they no longer
pose a deadly threat to the surrounding forest and habitat.
On a whole New Zealand has seen its fair share of introduced
species, most of which have varied effects on the native
area and are difficult to keep under control. The planning
needed when introducing a new animal or plant needs to
be monumental, and unfortunately our native environment
was not ready for some of these species. Thankfully, because
of modern technology and insight some of these unwanted
species are being eradicated, making New Zealand a better
home for our natives.
TOM SIDES 8RN
Fishing
The boat slides through the water. We soon get
to our favourite fishing spot. The boat slides
away from the reef so we cruise back over the
reef and bait up again.
Suddenly I feel a tug. Another one comes - then
I strike. I have got one, so I flick the switch and
the reel pulls it up. It is a bluenose. We gaff it
and put it in the chilly bin.
We head to a different spot where you catch
blue cod.
We get heaps. We start to gut the fish and have
a little fish while we do that. We cruise back into
shore, pack up and drive back to Wanaka.
FLETCHER DAVISON 7BH