New Zealand seeks species saving cooperation with Australia

New Zealand Conservation Minister Maggie Barry will be looking to cooperate with Australia on saving their unique animal species during a visit this week.

Barry, who is to be a keynote speaker at the Threatened Species Summit in Melbourne, said Tuesday that the two countries had many conservation challenges in common, but very different experiences.

"We face similar problems with introduced pests and other threats, and there are opportunities to collaborate and find solutions together, even if our wildlife is in many cases vastly different," Barry said in a statement.

"For example, possums are a threatened species in Australia, yet we spend millions of dollars a year to control their population in New Zealand, where they are invasive and cause huge damage to our native ecosystems," she said.

"Our two nations can work together to ensure our precious native wildlife survives for future generations."

The summit on Thursday will be hosted by Australian Environment Minister Greg Hunt and chaired by Australia's Threatened Species Commissioner Gregory Andrews. Endi