An operation to kill a lone stoat cost the Department of Conservation almost half a million dollars

In 2022, a male stoat was found in Fiordland's Te Kakahu-O-Tamatea -- which has been pest-free since 1999.

Documents show in the eight months from detection to killing it -- 483-thousand-dollars was spent.

DOC also spent another 210-thousand dollars on ensuring the island was pest-free with ongoing surveillance.

The agency explained in the documents the stoat could've killed Kakapo and Little Spotted Kiwi chicks, and nationally endangered skinks.