Untitled

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXVIII, Issue 4605, 4 October 1934, Page 6

The depredations of stoats on ducks were referred to at the Acclimatisation Societies' conference in Wellington by Mr. H. J. Duigan (Wanganui). A resident and his son standing on a high bank of the Kai Iwi Stream, nine miles from Wanganui, were watching a grey duck with a clutch of ducklings sunning themselves on a sandy ledge, which was surrounded by fern and scrub. A stoat suddenly sprang upon the young ducklings, which immediately dived into the stream minus one small member, which the stoat had killed. Yells and clods of earth caused the stoat to drop its prey. A watch was kept for over two hours and the stoat was shot. In the course of a few days the clutch had dwindled from 12 to four, and if the stoat had not been killed the lot would have gone.