Every once in a while, I write something that immediately generates gobs of
mail and my recent remarks on feral ferrets in New Zealand has just done
that.  So far, I have 37 letters ranging from "Don't you think it's hurting
legalization efforts to say ferrets can be feral,' to "I read in the new
"Ferrets" magazine that there were no wild ferrets," to "Who is that Jim guy
and why doesn't he like you?"  In addition, because of some personal stuff
(been spending *lots* of time in my front driveway fixing the blue TR), I am
about two weeks behind on the FML, although I scan an issue now and then.  I
luckly saw Jim's remarks regarding ferrets, rabbit and kiwi in NZ.
 
Jim is a good friend, and I owe him lots of beer when I finally get around
to visiting him in the coming year or so.  (I even have a suspicion that he
and BIG were separated at birth, judging from their charity and similarity
of facial features.) If anyone on this mailing list has the right, the
experience and the knowledge to comment on New Zealand ferrets, Jim has.  He
lives there, he studies zoology and ecology there, and he can see on a first
hand basis exactly what is going on while I am forced to rely on scientific
papers and reports for knowledge.  I trust Jim, but even if I didn't, I
would be foolish and arrogant to suggest I would know more from publications
than he knows from experience.  If I did, I should be inducted into the "Ca
Ca Fish and Gestapo Hall of Shame."
 
I was unaware of the illegal release of rabbit virus (Jim might have told me
but you know how the mind gets sometimes...I think I need more estrogen...),
but he is absolutely right about the possible consequences of the decline in
the rabbit population.  When I wrote that New Zealand had reached stability
is some areas, it was based on current published knowledge, and not on the
recent developments.  Ecological stability requires not only the
establishment of predator stability, but also *prey* stability.  Since
predator numbers are controlled by prey numbers, I would expect predator
numbers to decline, an increase in predator movement, an increase in
territory-size in the surviving predators, reduced survivorship of baby
predators, and prey-switching.  Oh, and lots of starvation and disease
pathology.
 
I have read that experts have placed the extinction of the kiwi between
20-50 years, provided all variables remain the same.  The three major
factors cited were predation, urbanization of wild areas, and environmental
degredation.  I can't say which factor is paramount because the various
papers I've read on the issue disagree, but the end result is the same--the
loss of the kiwi--which is, as far as I am concerned, unacceptable.  What
the kiwis need (and the other endangered species) is protection from
introduced predators, protection from pollutants, and space to live.
Unfortunately, getting all three may be impossible.  The USA is one of the
largest countries in the world, yet *we* don't have space for our predators,
and animals like black-footed ferrets and wolves have suffered as a result.
 
Jim is right about predator controls not working.  Removing a specific
predator does nothing in the long run, because they are always replaced by
others, and if not by predators, then they fall into a horrible cycle of
overpopulation, starvation, disease and populations crashes.  Predators and
prey co-evolve; that is, both evolve at the same time in the presence of
each other.  This also occured in NZ, but not with mammals present.  So
animals like small flightless birds run a great risk of being eaten by fast
and efficent mammalian predators, and just like what happened in Europe,
Asia, Africa, Australia and the Americas millions of years ago, they will
die out.  (Flightless birds adapted to mammalian predators do just fine,
unless humans kill them all for lunch).
 
The truth is, unless you remove *ALL* exotic species from NZ AND give the
kiwi a clean place to live, sooner or later the only kiwis you will see are
those living behind zoo bars or in areas protected from mammalian invaders.
The kiwi simply cannot compete against mammalian rodents, lagomorphs, and
ungulates, and they cannot protect themselves from mammalian predators.  It
doesn't look good.  Unfortunately, feral ferrets are part of the blame.
This has been made worse recently by the release of fitch-farm ferrets by
ranchers going out of business, so folks, even if the original release were
esentially ferret-polecat hybrids, the newbees are the good ol' domestic
ferret.
 
New Zealand ferret clubs would do well to initiate a program of live rescue
trapping and adoptions.  The rest of us would do well to contribute money to
that purpose.  This would be good for the individual ferrets (maybe they
live 1-2 years in the wild), the NZ ecology, and ferret reputations in
general.  It might not remove the ferret from the wild, won't help the kiwi
much, but it certainly can't hurt.  The older males should be returned to
their territories after being vacinated and vasectomized so they will take
the jills out of heat without making more problems.  This plan is much
better than some of the recent solutions I've read about including the
deliberate introduction of canine distemper and hunting to extinction.
 
Many people asked for an introductory text on the subject, and a good one
that even discusses the situation in New Zealand--at least in part--is:
 
Hunter, Malcom L., Jr.  1996  "Fundamentals of Conservation Biology."
Blackwell Science; Cambridge, Massachusetts.
 
Bob C and 20 MO Exotic Furdancers
[Posted in FML issue 2181]