Sign In / Register
When Anne-Marie Hopkins moved to a property in Waitoki last year, she quickly realised that possums were running the place.
Her land includes covenanted native bush, which means the property owner is responsible for pest control.
Anne-Marie’s approaches to local pest free groups revealed they had no capacity to help, so she did a trapping course, bought some traps and got started. The result is a catch of 91 possums in around nine months.
Anne-Marie says the experience revealed the need for a new pest free group to support and coordinate local efforts.
Together with Olaf Jones and Roberta Mek, she set about forming Pest Free Dairy Flat (which will also cover most of Waitoki) and this month began seeking more members.
“We want to bring more native wildlife back into our area,” she says.
Olaf has been a volunteer trapper with other local groups, as well on his Dairy Flat property where he has lived for 10 years. He says whatever you do on your own land, possums and rats keep on coming through from the surrounding area and he welcomed the opportunity to get involved with the new group.
“We need a wider plan to tackle the whole lot,” he says. “I hope people will be prepared to roll up their sleeves and get stuck into it, as it’s very satisfying work.”
Already the group has more than 60 members. “Although there is a lot of trapping going on, on private property, it is not coordinated and there will be big benefits if we can get together and organise it more,” Anne-Marie says. “We want to better support the Northwest Wildlink corridor, a route followed by birds, which goes through Dairy Flat and Waitoki.”
A meeting is planned for the end of October.
To find out more, look for Pest Free Dairy Flat on Facebook or email pestfreedairyflat@gmail.com
