Sign In / Register
Community preparations are gearing up for a concerted campaign, due to begin next March, to eradicate wallabies and possums on Kawau Island.
It’s the first of a two-stage plan coordinated by Auckland Council to rid the island of all pests – wallabies, possums, rats and stoats – in a bid to restore and boost native fauna and flora. A parallel island-led effort is focusing on rats (see story below).
After a consultation process, council earlier this year recommended that islanders establish a community forum. The new body’s chair is Jon Bilger, an Olympic yachtsman and two-time America’s Cup winner, whose family property comprises 900 of the island’s approximately 2023 hectares.
The forum’s first meeting attracted about 30 residents, and was a good opportunity for people to discuss the plans and ask questions, Bilger said.
A draft plan to eradicate wallabies and possums was presented by representatives of Island Conservation – the NGO which council had commissioned earlier to produce a feasibility report on achieving a pest-free Kawau.
“It’s very much a draft,” Bilger said. “The thing with pest eradication is that you need to evolve and change, see what is and isn’t working, rather than have a rigid plan.”
Preparations now underway include securing approval from landowners to access their properties.
Wallabies will be killed off primarily by a team of professional hunters, assisted by pointer dogs to track them down and ensure that areas have been successfully cleared.
The island has been divided into zones, and the campaign will begin in the north, working southwards, he said. Temporary fencing will be used to close off areas once cleared of wallabies and possums.
Drone-mounted thermal cameras will be used to monitor those areas that aren’t covered in dense bush.
The cameras won’t have traditional SD cards, but will use cell phone and satellite technology and AI to detect wallabies – differentiating them from other creatures such as weka. Information will be sent to the hunters, reducing the need for manual searching.
The feasibility study and consultation process found that the goal of a pest-free Kawau enjoyed broad support. There was, however, minority opposition to certain elements of the proposal. Some in the community objected to including wallabies in the eradication plans, citing their uniqueness and colonial heritage (MM, September 11, 2023).
In earlier consultations by Island Conservation, 12 per cent of those landowners who were able to be contacted said they opposed killing the wallabies. By contrast, just four per cent did not support eradicating rats, stoats and possums.
Bilger acknowledged that some islanders were “pro-wallaby” and would not want hunters to access their land for the purpose of killing them. But he said the planners were fairly confident that wallabies could be lured away from those properties, using non-toxic carrot drops.
While hunting would be the primary means of dealing with wallabies, the use of approved toxins would also be “in the toolkit” – although they would not be used in residential areas, Bilger said.
Regarding toxins, he said the biggest concern was probably around potential harm to dogs as a result of scavenging carcasses.
But a communication team would ensure that everyone on the island was aware of the location of the bait stations, and when they would be set up – “so there will be no excuse to not know about it”.
Council has said that, in addition to funding from Predator Free 2050 and in-kind support from the Department of Conservation (DOC), third-party funding will be needed.
Bilger said some Kawau residents would be making donations, channelled through the New Zealand Nature Fund, to the tune of $750,000.
“There is significant weight behind this”.
As chair of the community forum, Bilger has also taken part in a first meeting of a six-person steering committee, established by council to drive the project.
The other steering committee members are the chair of the Kawau Island Residents and Ratepayers Association (KIRRA), the chair of the Pohutukawa Trust, and representatives of council, DOC and Ngāti Manuhiri.
100 Kawau ‘rat packers’ win council support
Six months after its establishment, the Kawau Community Conservation Trust has successfully gained funding and practical support for the island’s “rat pack” eradication team.
More than 100 households have registered, and Auckland Council and the Rodney Local Board have shown their support for the island-led initiative.
“Kawau’s neighbourhoods are naturally resilient and love the independence and isolation they enjoy from mainland life,” trust chair Caroline Boot and rat pack manager Sharon Harper said.
“Communities in Kawau’s bays are well connected with each other, socialising and providing strong support for each other. The rat pack is a natural extension of that community spirit – a way to tap into the passion that Kawau people share for preserving and enhancing the stunning natural environment on Kawau, through island-led coordination of rat control programmes.”
Because many properties on Kawau are isolated, some owners will use support from the trust to only manage controls on their own properties. In more populated areas, neighbourhood groups are already set up to maximise coverage of rat controls through neighbours installing and monitoring traps or bait stations so that recommended coverage levels, pulses and toxins are used. Results can be tracked using TrapNZ’s smartphone app.
With funding agreements signed, funds soon to be deposited, and the majority of residents keen to move forward, the trust is organising training from experts over the next few weeks.
To enhance rat control on their properties, residents can choose from a few types of traps or bait stations, including traditional Victor or T-Rex traps and more sophisticated Good Nature traps, which are powered with CO2 cylinders and don’t need to be reset each time a rat is trapped.
NZ Autotraps’ AT220 trap is a pricier option but has the benefit of self-resetting as well as auto-refreshing the lure, and so may suit those who seldom visit their properties. They can work with rats and possums – a benefit for those in the areas where possums are still prevalent. Resources will be heavily subsidised for members.
Most islanders surveyed indicated a preference for enclosed bait stations, which minimise the chance of toxins being taken by native birds, pets or children. Islanders also showed majority support for the use of toxins that do not cause secondary poisoning in non-target species.
Boot and Harper said the programme built on the commitment that islanders had always had for protecting the flora and fauna on their island, and the trust did not foresee the need for intervention from outside contractors or field staff.
More info: www.kawauconservation.co.nz or contact Sharon Harper on 027 848 4845.
