WELLINGTON: Australian possums, long considered a pest in New Zealand, now face eradication in the country by 2050, along with with other foreign predators such as rats and stoats.
Prime Minister John Key unveiled the ambitious new goal to make NZ predator free to protect native fauna.
![An Australian brush-tailed possum. New Zealanders consider them to be vermin.](/web/20160823104949im_/http://www.watoday.com.au/content/dam/images/g/q/d/x/d/t/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gqdwpb.png/1469502974564.jpg)
"While once the greatest threat to our native wildlife was poaching and deforestation, it is now introduced predators," Mr Key said.
Rats, possums and stoats, which kill 25 million of New Zealand's native birds every year and prey on other native species like lizards, will be the main targets.
![Stoats, cats and possums either kill or affect the habitat of the kiwi and other New Zealand native birds.](/web/20160823104949im_/http://www.watoday.com.au/content/dam/images/g/q/d/x/f/r/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gqdwpb.png/1469502974564.jpg)
The Australian brush-tailed possum was introduced into New Zealand in 1837 to establish a fur trade, and has since flourished in the fertile environment.
The government admits it's the most ambitious conservation project attempted anywhere in the world.
The NZ Department of Conservation has killed off predators on some smaller outlying islands with traps and poisons dropped by air. The same techniques have been used to control rats and other predators in protected areas on New Zealand's two main islands.
But expanding such a program to cover the whole country is expected to come at a high financial cost and could prompt criticism over the use of poisons and traps to kill a large number of animals.
![John Key's cat won't be affected in the cull.](/web/20160823104949im_/http://www.watoday.com.au/content/dam/images/g/q/d/x/o/j/image.related.articleLeadNarrow.300x0.gqdwpb.png/1469502974564.jpg)
Animal rights activists and celebrities condemned a similar plan announced by Australia last year to use poison to eliminate millions of feral cats.
The government has set aside $26 million in initial funds for a company, Predator Free New Zealand, to lead the effort. That spending is in addition to more than $40 million spent on pest control each year.
A 2015 study by the University of Auckland found that such a program could cost more than $8.3 billion over 50 years, but the cost to agriculture to otherwise manage such pests over the same period would run more than $14.7 billion.
Mr Key called the effort "the most ambitious conservation project attempted anywhere in the world".
In addition to protecting native species, killing off rats and other invasive predators will help protect livestock by curbing the spread of disease, New Zealand officials said. "Possums and ferrets are the main carriers of bovine TB, which is a very destructive disease for cattle and deer," the primary industries minister, Nathan Guy, said in a statement.
"It's a big goal and it's going to take a lot of effort," Mr Key said.
"But I think it's proven to be possible on those outer islands and I think with the right effort and the right commitment we can do it right across the country."
While feral cats can expect to be in the firing line, Mr Key says pet cats - including his own cat Moonbeam - will be spared.
"They'll still have plenty of years in front of them in front of the fire," he told reporters.
AAP, The New York Times