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Wipe out pests with help of how-to videos

Maddened by magpies? Worried about woolly nightshade? Having problems with planting? If so, Environment Bay of Plenty’s series of seven how-to videos may be just the thing for you.

These videos are designed to help people deal with weeds like woolly nightshade or pests like wasps, magpies and mustelids (ferrets, stoats and weasels). One of the videos focuses on the relationship between land management and the way it affects the environment while another deals with planting methods and tips for areas such as streambanks.

They don’t take long to watch but contain enough information to be helpful – especially when backed by professional advice from the regional council’s land resources staff.

A new video in the collection shows how to trap ferrets, stoats and weasels, members of the mustelid family. A major threat to New Zealand’s native fauna, especially flightless birds like kiwi, they are known for their ferocity and cunning. They are notoriously difficult to catch.

The video includes information on mustelid habitat, the best places to set traps and how to bait them.

The videos are available for rental from Environment Bay of Plenty’s offices in Whakatane, Rotorua and Mount Maunganui. The regional council also has a series of land resources fact sheets with similar information. Call 0800 ENV BOP (368 267) to find out more or search for “fact sheets” on www.envbop.govt.nz.

ENDS

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Gordon Campbell: On the Sony cyber attack

Given the layers of meta-irony involved, the saga of the Sony cyber attack seemed at the outset more like a snarky European art film than a popcorn entry at the multiplex.

Yet now with (a) President Barack Obama weighing in on the side of artistic freedom and calling for the US to make a ‘proportionate response’quickly followed by (b) North Korea’s entire Internet service going down, and with both these events being followed by (c) Sony deciding to backtrack and release The Interview film that had made it a target for the dastardly North Koreans in the first place, then ay caramba…the whole world will now be watching how this affair pans out. More>>