FOGNZ AGM
This was held in Auckland on July 15th and was well attended. We were extremely fortunate to be able to hold the AGM in the New Zealand Centre for Conservation Medicine (NZCCM) at Auckland Zoo which was provided free of charge by NZCCM and Auckland Zoo who are corporate members. We were fortunate to be given a tour of the Zoo by Terry Evans who is a botanist and in charge of the plants in the zoo which play an important role with many of the animals as they help provide the right environment and often food for them. The AGM was attended by some 35 members and was uneventful, as it should be, and was then followed by a talk from John Parkes of Landcare Research, an expert on eradicating pesky pest species, and who has been involved in eradication planning in Galapagos as well as New Zealand and elsewhere. John was able to show how by helping Galapagos and teaching the eradication techniques to Ecuadoreans, they were now able to plan and execute their own eradication campaigns with minimal outside help and were also able to pass this expertise on to other organisations. A very valuable development which will help in the ongoing battle against invasive alien species. Our thanks to Peter Fraser, Conservation officer at Auckland Zoo, and to Derry Kirsten of NZCCM for helping to arrange and organise this event.