This sounds bad — DOC spent nearly $500,000 to kill one stoat in Fiordland until we see this:

[Auckland University Professor of Conservation Biology, James Russell] said half a million dollars does sound like a lot of money but people should remember that DOC manages 33% of the country on half a percent of the government's budget.

@SimonWoods 🤣 Though, to be fair, it does sound a lot. Unfortunately they buried the explanation I quoted down near the end.