I'm Ayesha Roscoe, and you're listening to The Sunday Story,
where we go beyond the news of the day to bring you one big story.
A huge experiment is underway in New Zealand.
The country is trying to save its endangered wildlife, animals found nowhere else on the planet.
But to do that, they're killing animals that aren't native and have been taking over.
It's a nationwide extermination campaign, one of the most ambitious in the world.
And it's raising questions about just how far humans should go to save the natural world.
Lauren Summer from NPR's Climate Desk went to New Zealand and joins us now.
Hi, Lauren.
Hey there.
OK, so yes, I went to New Zealand.
And I want to introduce you to some of the people doing this work.
If you come down here, we can actually show you the small stream that runs through here.
So that's Mila Mackenzie.
And I met her in a neighborhood park in Dunedin, New Zealand.
And that's where her student group volunteers.
And they've done a lot.
They clean up litter.
They put in new plants.
I think this year we've put about 1 to 200 trees.