Bird on the brink

Conservation officials in New Zealand warn that the black stilt, one of the
world’s rarest wading birds, will be pushed closer to extinction following the
unauthorised introduction of the rabbit calicivirus
(This Week, 6 September, p10).
They fear that ferrets, stoats and feral cats will start eating the birds’
eggs if the rabbit, their normal prey, disappears. The government has ordered
its conservation officers on the South Island to increase trapping of ferrets
and stoats at 15 sites southeast of Mount Cook where black stilts breed.