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An ambitious campaign to rid Warkworth of pests such as rats, possums and mustelids has been given a shot in the arm with a $5000 grant from Predator Free NZ.
Pest Free Warkworth, initiated by the late Russell Cullen, started rolling out pest animal traps in the Warkworth township in 2019. Around 200 traps were deployed over the following 12 to 18 months, and the group plans to use the grant to double that number.
The deployment goal is one trap in every fifth household.
Volunteer Tim Armitage says rats are the primary focus, as traps for other animals are more expensive.
The work is being done in conjunction with the traplines being set up by Auckland Council and run by volunteers in reserves and parks such as Lucy Moore, Kowhai Park, along the Mahurangi River to the cement works and on the Sesquicentennial Walkway.
Rats have a major impact in New Zealand because they are omnivores, eating birds, seeds, snails, lizards, fruit, weta, eggs, chicks, larvae and flowers. The varied diet of rats also makes them competitors with native wildlife for food sources. The Warkworth campaign has adopted the slogan, ‘One in five – keeping the birds alive!’
“Up until now, we’ve had a bit of a scattergun approach to dispersing the traps,” Armitage says. “We’d like to get more strategic.”
Rosemary Cullen says the plan is to appoint neighbourhood and street coordinators, who might be people who want to help but don’t want to, or can’t, trap themselves.
The group has already identified some gaps in its trap network in the Victoria Street area, John Andrew Drive area, Neville Street to Pulham Road and around the Central Business District.
In order to maximise uptake, rat traps/tunnels will be provided at no charge, although a koha will be accepted if offered.
“We will also seek to offer the traps in a quid pro quo arrangement. We’d like trappers to sign up with TrapNZ and to enter their trap and results. For more expensive traps such as Timms or DOC200s, we would look at a charge to cover the cost, albeit at a subsidised rate.”
Trap tunnels have been ordered in anticipation of rolling out the traps from the start of next month onwards for as long as the group has demand, a trap supply and personnel availability to fulfil requests.
The group expects the campaign to have been fully executed in time for next winter.
There are also plans to set up a depot in Hauiti Drive to store and distribute the traps, and thought is being given to producing an easy to follow ‘how to’ sheet with each trap.
If anyone in Warkworth (within the town boundary) would like to get a trap or find out more about what’s involved, they should get in touch with Tim at: info@pestfreewarkworth.org.nz
