After your great visit to the Otorohanga bird house it is time to hop back onto the bus and head towards the Hawke’s Bay – your resting place for the evening. Hawke’s Bay is a beautiful region of New Zealand. It is known for its wineries and gorgeous scenery. When you arrive in Napier, the largest city in the region, you go for a walk through Waitangi Regional Park and notice that many of the leaves on the native trees have been damaged. Curious Kiwi tells you that they were damaged by possums, non-native predators, from Australia. People in New Zealand are working hard to trap and kill these predators. Their goal is to remove all of the possums (and other predators) by 2050. Go to the ‘Predator Free 2050 website’ to read more about their work.
On your blog, tell us whether you agree that New Zealand should be predator free. In your opinion, is it right to kill all of the predators (eg. possums) or should we just leave them alone? On your blog tell us what you think and give us, at least, three reasons why you think this way.
Once you have finished your blog post, it is time to relax for the evening. You and your friends have a nice dinner and then head to bed. You are just about to fall asleep when you hear something moving around outside your hotel. It sounds like a large bird. Maybe it’s a Moa…
To learn more about the Moa bird go to the bonus activity for today!Work:
Possums are a threat to our forests and native wildlife because Possums eat about 21,000 tonnes of leaves and flowers in just one night. Possums carry a disease called bovine Tb (tuberculosis) which they spread to cattle. The damage done by possums costs NZ farmers about $35 million every year.
In my opinion, we need to kill all of the predators (eg. possums). I agree that New Zealand should be predator free because we can all see some of the facts that I have found out about the possums.
Hi Francesca,
ReplyDeleteWell done for identifying three facts about the damage that possums do; they destroy our native bush, spread disease to cows and cost farmers a lot of money. I was interested to learn more about possums and why they are a pest in New Zealand. What do you think would happen if we left the possums alone?