Brian Rudman: Latest twist in rat saga right up kiore's alley

As they snack on another rare giant weta and wash it down with the yolk of a Cook's petrel egg, the kiore of Little Barrier Island must be sniggering at the latest hitch in plans to exterminate them.

This week Auckland Regional Council planning commissioners came up with a judgment reminiscent of Shylock being awarded his pound of flesh.

On the one hand, the Department of Conservation was given the green light for its plans to bomb the island with 55 tonnes of rat bait.

But there was a catch. Before any blood was shed, DoC was told it has to come up with a resettlement plan for the kiore on another island that the Ngatiwai - the local tangata whenua and self-appointed guardians of the rats - found acceptable.

Both DoC and the Ngatiwai are appalled at the turn of events and are talking of appealing to the Environment Court.

The commissioners, it appears, were seeking to broker some sort of peace treaty between the warring parties. A nice thought, but rather optimistic given the circumstances. It's 13 years now - several generations in the life of a Polynesian rat - since I first wrote about DoC's plans to rid the offshore islands of the kiore, the most venerable of NZ's invaders.

In the intervening years, attitudes don't seem to have changed. If anything, toes have just dug further in on all sides.

The latest battle was not supposed to have even been about the fate of kiore on Little Barrier. DoC officials thought they had already won that battle and had a pest extermination warrant signed by their minister.

What DoC needed from the ARC and the Auckland City Council - which held a joint planning hearing - was approval under the Resource Management Act for its chosen method of execution, in this case death by "the aerial discharge of cereal baits containing 200ppm of brodifacoum".

But for the Ngatiwai, who regard the kiore as taonga, or treasure, it was another chance to fight the fight. Under the RMA, the commissioners are required to consider the culture and traditions of the local Maori in reaching any decision. The Ngatiwai turned up, a stuffed kiore on their desk, to argue their spiritual connections to the rat. It was, they said, as "native and indigenous" as they were.

Two other branches of Ngatiwai claiming tangata whenua status took a different approach.

Ngati Rehua Trust Board argued that both kiore and tuatara were taonga, but that as tuatara were the threatened species - by kiore - they should take precedence. Ngati Manuhiri said they had moved beyond this issue to the stage where they actively supported eradication of kiore.

The commissioners, chaired by Alan Watson, decided that Ngatiwai would suffer "adverse cultural effects" and a loss of mana by the removal of kiore. The act would also "permanently remove its ability to act as kaitiaki of kiore on Hauturu [Little Barrier]".

They added that the imposition of one Treaty of Waitangi partner's will over another was not in accord with the RMA. "Partnership requires the applicant and Ngatiwai to work together to achieve the best outcome for Papatuanuku [mother earth] and her offspring."

To mitigate the effects of eradication, DoC was required to assist Ngatiwai capture and move a population of Hauturu kiore to another island within the tribal area.

The commissioners said they "do not envisage the applicant having difficulty with these conditions as it [DoC] has proposed transferral as a possible mitigation measure".

It turns out DoC has great difficulty with these conditions, particularly because it argues that contrary to what the commissioners claim, it did not propose to transfer the kiore to another island.

Warwick Murray, DoC communications manager, says they were prepared to consider leaving an existing population on another island - or to allow Ngatiwai to take some from Hauturu and keep them in captivity elsewhere.

As things stand, DoC and Ngatiwai now have to prepare a Kiore Transfer Management Plan, which, amongst other things, agrees on how many of the pests to transfer and to where. Not as easy as it sounds.

DoC's Auckland Conservator, Rob McCallum, says he is not in the business of transferring "mammalian predators" to other parts of the conservation estate.

Even if a privately or Maori-owned island is found, it will have to be rat free. Established rat colonies - either kiore or fiercer European breeds - are likely to make mincemeat of any intruders.

It's hard to sympathise with Ngatiwai's intransigence. The kiore were the first of the mammalian invaders to wreak havoc on the New Zealand environment. Latest research has them arriving more than 2000 years ago, leaping ashore from passing canoes.

They had a thousand years on their own, cutting a swath of destruction through the defenceless indigenous insects and frogs and birds.

The ancestors of the Ngatiwai settled a thousand years later and another round of destruction began. Then came we Europeans to finish the job. We almost succeeded. Now, through DoC, we're trying to save what's left, and where possible, turn back the clock. Just where the kiore fits into that plan, I'm not sure. Unless it's in a cage as a warning to future generations.

If people want to see them in their natural environment, surely the best way is to take a trip to Asia, from whence they first came.