Pest control experts are looking at testing on possums and
stoats a chemical that triggers an accelerated menopause in
mammals.
Landcare Research is currently in discussions with an
American company, Senestech, which is developing the
technology.
Phil Cowan, science leader on pest control technologies for
Landcare told NZPA the state science company is negotiating
an agreement "that will allow us to initiate joint research
on these particular compounds later this year for possums and
stoats".
The technology to chemically sterilise feral female pests
stems from work done by scientists in Arizona, who
investigated potential damage caused to ovarian follicles in
women exposed to a chemical compound known as
4-vinylcyclohexene diepoxide, or VCD, used in manufacturing
rubber tyres, polyesters and plastics.
A researcher at Northern Arizona University, Loretta Mayer
found the non-toxic chemical also caused infertility in rats,
and a company on the university campus at Flagstaff is
developing it as a pest control.
Details were revealed to an invitation-only workshop on
fertility control in wildlife management at Landcare's
Lincoln campus.
The meeting was organised by the New Zealand government and
the governments of Australia, the United States, and Britain,
as part of development of more effective methods for wildlife
management.
The first product being rolled out by an American company,
SenesTech, is ContraPest to cut rat numbers in Southeast
Asia's rice paddies, where rodents eat up to a third of the
crop.
This is already being tested in Indonesia -- the world's
largest producer of rice -- and the next test sites will be
in the Philippines and Vietnam. And it is being registered
for rodent control in Australia, where mice can be a serious
problem in grain stores.
Now the company is developing another product, ChemSpay,
which has already been proven to induce permanent sterility
in female dogs after one exposure to the drug.
Dr Mayer and her team of researchers also are adapting the
technology platform for population management of wild animals
such as deer, coyotes, foxes, raccoons, horses, buffalo and
elk as well as cats and dogs.
New Zealand has problems with feral cats, dogs, deer, elk and
horses as well as possums and stoats.
Australia hopes to use the technology to use in managing
kangaroo, wallaby and camel populations.
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