BIRD LIFE.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 57, Issue 26, 10 November 1936, Page 10

BIRD LIFE.

STOATS AND WEASELS MENACE. (Per Press Association.) CHRISTCHURCH, November 9. A concentrated drive against stoats and weasels on the part of all interested in the bird life of the Dominion was advocated by the Minister of Internal Affairs (the Hon. AV. E. Parry) in an interview to-day. Mr Parry heartily condemned as inimical to the welfare of game and native birds the habits of stoats and weasels. The widespread nature of the damage done by the stoat and the weasel had become alarming. So prolific was the stoat that unless active measures were taken within 15 or 20 years there would be competition in numbers between stoats and birds. He knew that the stoat was tolerated by some as a destroyer of the rabbit, but his information was that stoats would not attack rabbits while feathered game was available. Mr Parry said he had had reports about the destructiveness of the hedgehog' and rat. These animals, he was sure, were a definite menace to bird life, and *iis opinion was that if New Zealand desired to maintain native and game birds, efforts stronger than those of the past should be made to destroy these pests. There must be a constant and vigilant campaign against them.