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Abstract
We assessed the impact on populations of non‐target mammals of a manually applied 1080 “jam” operation targeting possums (Trichosurus vulpecula) in hilly pastoral land south‐west of Dunedin in mid‐winter 1991. We found no evidence that mice (Mus musculus) were poisoned, but ferret (Mustela furo) numbers apparently declined immediately after poisoning. The removal of small mammalian predators after a poisoning operation could decrease the immediate predation pressure on native wildlife and rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus). Observed decreases in bovine tuberculosis reactor rates in deer and cattle herds after some poisoning operations may therefore result from killing of non‐target mammals, especially ferrets, rather than possums.