Invasive species: friend, foe, or family? Some perspectives on invasive species from an island nation
Kiore - Hayley Ricardo
SemIDEEV
01/09/2026
12:00:00
Priscilla Wehi, University of Otago, New Zealand
IDEEV - Salle Rosalind Franklin
In an island nation such as New Zealand, invasive species such as mammalian predators (e.g. stoats, rats, feral cats) can have devastating effects for native species, with many of our birds and reptiles now classified as vulnerable or threatened. However, not everyone agrees on how we should remove invasive predators, or even that we should. I will discuss some perspectives from local Indigenous Māori communities with whom I have worked, and relational views of nature that encompass invasive species such as the kiore or Pacific rat (Rattus exulans) and see them as cultural treasures, as well as how European colonisation has also resulted in cultural use shifts towards introduced and invasive species, including pigs.