By Josie Harris.

OK Alternatives to spending hundreds of millions of taxpayers dollars to cover New Zealand in Poison?

How about someone shouts a Smart Strategy.

A timeline of progressive initiatives to address invasive species issues instead of the immediate dire need to poison.

Look to ecosystem solutions.

Promote community programmes for environment enhancement and gather community support to aid in the application implementation of new strategies.

Use natural predator control in all applicable environments including crop areas.( eg promoting native and naturalised Falcons, Morepork, Owl) for small invasive mammal control.

Invoke government funded regionally/ locally delivered simultaneous urban extermination initiatives. Community grants and marketing for households to understand and access humane control for problem animals eg rats.

As Tama Iti suggested to me …get a paid animal control military or specialist trapper/ shooting crews with a view to clearing problem areas. Sweep through and clear problem pests that inhibit conservation efforts.

Re-establish Rabbit Boards. With fur at an international premium (demand being met by breeding life caged animals eg in China) bring back the focus marketing NZ furs supplying the international market. Place a good living wage on possum rabbit, thar etc pelts.

Get zoologists, ecologists, botanist, strategists, managers to put together a new progressive forward thinking environmental strategy that includes a comprehension and adherence to recognition of intrinsic value.

A nationwide intensive environmental (time progressive) monitoring programme and well considered, timely executed, follow up solutions.

The development of new fresh legislation that overwrites all previous wild animal and “pest strategy” law that actually upholds animal welfare values. This should include animals that could be subject either immediately or inadvertently to any negative aspects of adopted control measures.

A new species and site specific management document that focuses on promoting existing cohesive ecosystems. One that decreases any negative impacts and focuses on enhancing positive ecosystem values and goals. Improving environmental outcomes.

A holt to the short sighted initiative of creating small areas of biodiversity at the expense of the wider environment biodiversity values.

Immediately stop the demonisation of specific animals in NZ eg cats, hedgehogs, possums, rats, thar, deer, pigs, black backed gulls, anti 1080 people.

Only humane control. Promotion of animal worth and value especially to children so they can understand and practice empathy towards animals not hatred.

Policy that includes principals or concepts of “least interference necessary” in ecosystem management…

Policy that employs the precautionary principal “if you don’t know or are unsure do not proceed” being the directive at all decision making levels of management.

Meaningful public involvement in decision making and environmental outcomes.

But the powers that dictate already know all of this. Next time someone says what alternative is there to poisoning everything. The alternatives are endless the only limited thinking is the one of quick fix 1080 or other undesirable chemical pollutants.