Friday’s remarkable tale of a Hawke’s Bay hawk rescued from a car’s grille was a heart warmer.
The collision, dubbed car versus kāhu, happened during a test drive where somehow the young native harrier ended up firmly wedged with its wings outstretched across the bumper “like a giant, feathered butterfly”.
Miraculously, it wasn’t badly injured and was safely extricated by vets from VetsOne Hastings and mechanics at Bayswater Vehicles.
Two very different industries shared their skills to come away with the save.
After a day’s convalescence, according to the vets’ social media post, it flew off unfazed and “far wilder”.
The efforts to rescue and revive was a reminder of how highly Kiwis regard native fauna.
Countless predator-free groups across the country are testament to this.
Predator Free Wellington is aiming to be the world’s first predator-free capital city.
DoC claimed a Wellington initiative had successfully eliminated predators from Te Motu Kairangi/ Miramar Peninsula and Capital Kiwi had brought a wild kiwi population to the city’s backyard.
It’s hugely encouraging.
Yet, as well-intentioned as the national push for Predator Free 2050 is, it remains aspirational only.
New Zealand will never be predator free with more than three million felines on the prowl.
Even if we managed to eradicate every rat, ferret, possum, stoat and weasel from Aotearoa, we’re still left with the best hunters of them all.
New Zealand is home to more than double the number of feral cats as pet ones.
Lincoln University Masters student Natalie Blackstock last year said there were an estimated 2.4 million feral cats in New Zealand compared with 1.2 million pet cats, and about 200,000 stray cats.
Rick Barker, a former Hawke’s Bay Regional Council chairman and Cabinet minister, last month said the worst dotterel breeding season at Napier’s Bay View and Westshore should be a “wake-up call”.
Cats were caught on camera destroying 18 of the 42 nests monitored with trail cameras by Save the Dotterels Hawke’s Bay. Of about 52 chicks hatched in the area this season, 14 survived to fledgling age.
Barker said “you’re either on the side of the birds, or you’re on the side of the predators ... are we going to take effective action to protect the dotterels or are we, with much hand-wringing, simply going to monitor their extinction?”
Introduced predators kill an estimated 25 million native birds each year.
So, here’s an idea that could work alongside trapping.
Just like we protect our powerlines with stainless-steel guards to prevent possums climbing atop, maybe something similar could be fashioned for specimen trees preferred by our nesting native birds?
It would preclude predation from the ground up, whether they be rat, cat or mustelid.
Obviously, and regrettably, this won’t save ground-nesting species.
But given cats are here to stay, tree sanctuaries could be a real thing for our arboreal-nesting feathered taonga.