Opinion: Plea for action on plague of peacocks

A pair of wild peacocks invade a rural garden.

You can't shoot them … they move too fast. And they're smart.

The Whanganui hill country is facing a population explosion of wild peacocks. These loud and destructive birds are estimated to number in the thousands and the problem is getting worse.

Brought to New Zealand as an ornamental species, they have flourished in the mild Whanganui climate and are now a serious economic and social pest in many areas.

They target farmers' new crops and grass, eating and fouling large areas of pasture and have a loud raucous cry.

To effectively control them requires coordinated hunting across large areas, otherwise the birds move between farms and find somewhere safe to hide.

I want Horizons Regional Council to start taking the issue of these feral birds seriously — we need coordinated control to ensure an effective campaign to reduce numbers. The problem is too large for farmers to tackle alone.

The council may believe making the bird an official pest could be too expensive, but other areas are also struggling with this species. Those councils and Horizons could work collectively to develop a national control programme.

When pest plants and animals are given free rein, they cause huge environmental damage to indigenous fauna and flora — just look at possums, Canada geese, wasps and wallabies. The annual cost of managing these invasive organisms is huge. So why wait?

Imagine if we had stopped rabbits, gorse or wasps before they became so widely established. Control costs for peafowl will continue to grow if we do not act now.

I implore our councillors to start talking to their peers and policy staff to assess the scale of the problem and decide how the community can bring this growing problem under control.

Grant Adkins is Federated Farmers Wanganui Meat and Wool chairman I am fed up with the wild peacocks.