Are we being good custodians of the land if we attempt to restore balance through introducing poison to pristine environments?
Dominion. Pentax MX, Cinestill 400D, May 2024.
There is a big push in Aotearoa / New Zealand to create ‘predator free zones’ to help protect native birds. It has been shown that reducing the population of predators in certain areas, for example in and around New Zealand’s capital Wellington, has been successful in bringing back native bird populations that have previously been decimated. The target species are possums, rats and stoats. These species are either trapped and then killed, or they are poisoned using 1080. These programs are carried out widely in New Zealand’s national parks, reserves and urban areas.
Boundaries. Pentax MX, Cinestill 400D, May 2024.
I understand the biodiversity argument. Endemic species should be protected and potentially prioritised over species that are common in lots of other places. Diversity builds the resilience of an eco-system overall. Invasive species control can be an effective strategy in maintaining diversity and therefore resilience.
But can we please acknowledge that we like to decimate animals and plants that happen to inconvenience us? Or plants and animals that are useful for us to harvest? And can we acknowledge that the destruction of habitat of native species has primarily been caused by the actions of Homo sapiens rather than by brushtail possums? And can we acknowledge that Homo sapiens gets away free of charge while possums are hunted down and exterminated?
People would rather have native songbirds in their backyards than brushtail possums and rats. I don’t blame them. But I still find it confronting to see how eager New Zealanders are to kill possums. Those poor animals are innocent! They are following their instincts, and could do no different than what they do. Yes, they eat native vegetation. Yes they eat bird eggs. But they are possums, that’s all they know how to do!
A bird I found on the highway. Presumably hit by a car. I picked it up and placed it on the top of this fence post.
Pentax MX, Portra 800, May 2024.
People on the other hand know better. We understand that our actions result in the downfall of other species. Yet we keep doing the things that exasperate the balance of the world. Our entire civilization depends on our dominion over nature. And we seem powerless to stop our destruction of nature. Despite all the warning signs. Despite the Jane Goodalls and David Attenboroughs out there. The Trumps and the Putins dominate the world. We declare ourselves more mighty and important than any other living being and forget that our existence rests on all the other life forms that we are suppressing and harvesting.
Ephemeral light pattern. Pentax MX, Cinestill 400D, May 2024.
The native bird population in New Zealand is in strife because of people.
It was people who brought in animals that are harmful to those birds. It was people that have destroyed the bird’s habitat: cleared the land, cut down the forests. It was people that hunted the Moa to extinction, a flightless bird that stood 12 ft tall and weighed up to 200kg.
And now it is people that continue to poison millions of animals each year in the name of restoring the balance.
Tree-city. Pentax MX, Cinestill 400D, May 2024.
We like to play god, why? Because it suits us and because we can.
If only the god we played was a bit less clever and a bit more wise…