KAKAPO - NOT WORTH SAVING?

A bloodless scientist in Aussie has done are very interesting thing. He has developed an index that assesses the worth of saving threatened and endangered species purely on fact and logic.

As a result the big lazy parrot we call the Kakapo is deemed not worth saving. That may well be true. Comalco has chucked a million dollars at the recovery programme for about 20 years so thats $20 m for starters and then its safe to assume DOC has stumped up the same amount so thats about $40million so far and what have we to show for it? Another 70 birds. Thats about $750k each.

Now don't get me wrong - Kakapo are the embodiment of innocence as we have blogged before and anyone who gets up close and personal to one cannot help but be affected by them.

However we have to fess. The mere smell of them sent our saliva glands into overdrive. They awoke some ancient Maori predilection for Parrot hangi.

Thats the problem with Kakapo - they are our forests village idiots. They never adapted. They cant fly their way out of trouble and the desire to breed is predicated on a seed that only flourishes every now and then.

Even so, we get the argument and a tool designed to triage the species that will best benefit from intervention is very useful.

However it does not take into account our nations love of charismatic fauna. If its cute we are more inclined to save it. The yellow eyed penguin is probably worthy of more resource but its an ugly bloody thing.

But small birds like the Black Robin take our fancy.

So while logic should dictate - it wont. Cute will always win the bucks and our verdant parrot will get all the love and attention it probably doesn't deserve.

TREE TOP TEGELS

We watched Close Up tonight with some interest. Roger Beattie has embarked on a campaign to change the way we think about endangered species. He wants commercial interests to be able to farm them. We have long thought that this was a great idea. Kangaroo and Crocs are farmed and harvested in Aussie and while to outsiders it might seem funny to eat a national emblem it ensures that the species is in good heart.

It was hilarious to see Beattie go head to heads with DOC's Al Morrison. It was very clear that Morrison is not that open to new ideas and was uncomfortable when Beattie proffered the notion that DOC has a vested interest in ensuring species stay rare.

Anyway the results of the Close Up poll - Do you think endangered species should be farmed?

Obviously the result caught Mark Sainsbury by surprise. 85% of respondents are all for farming endangered species. Its time that the government took a look at the opportunities that Beattie is offering and the tasty weka is definitely the species to start with.

Based on our historical family information- the tastiness of our " endangered species " goes like this :

Kiwi - yuck. - stringy and oddly unpleasant.
Weka - yum.
Kereru - very yum
Kaka - the very essence of an avian culinary orgasm.

A RECIPE FOR DOC

We thought we would share another popular recipe for smoked eel pate.

First catch and smoke your eel. If you can't - buy one but it is waaaay cheaper to catch your own and its much more fun.

So you need the smoked flesh of two smallish eels, our family likes them about 2 foot long. Any bigger and they can be a bit rich. Smaller is sweeter.

Now you have to get the meat off the bones. I doe this with my fingers -its easy and i like getting down and messy with my tucker.

smunch it all up.

then add some sour cream.then fold in a couple of tablespoons of whipped cream.
Then chop up some parsley and some chives. And add a splash of lemoncello liqueur and a bit of tarragon. then a dash of cayenne pepper. and salt to taste.. but be careful with the salt.

Then use a fork and mush it all together and put it in the fridge for at least 4 hours to let the flavours get to know one another.

And it goes well with a crisp Monteiths Pilsener.

We are currently growing some horseradish as it goes very well with smoked eel.

ENDANGERED????!!???

Well this comes as a bit of a surprise , apparently long finned eels are endangered and someone is all frothy because you can buy them in down town Auckland. Well if DOC wants to take a look at a healthy and thriving population then they should have a look see in our backyard.

(Good looking eel huh ... shame about the chick!)

The river is swarming with them We speared one and caught approx 15 more in the fyke net on New Years eve. . We kept four in total.

Now this might sound a lot but its not. We get a feed of eels about three times a year. And thats the way its going to stay. While we think the river is pretty healthy - we reckon its too small to sustain a commercial harvest. however we would be interested to find out if indeed it is fished commercially.

Some were large as witnessed by this picture but there are also many many small ones.

We just want to know how DOC has come to the conclusion that they are endangered?

WHATS UP DOC?

It appears lawyers are an endangered species at one govt department.

Its an interesting yarn that shows some seriously woolly thinking.

Watch this space ..........