Our amazing volunteers have spent over 147 mahi hours this 1st Quarter ridding our local parks and reserves of 349 Predator Pests.
That’s 349 less individuals able to feast themselves on our precious fauna, out-compete our natives on accessing their natural food sources, and strip our native plants of their leaves, berries and seeds.
If you include our Okura and Stillwater residents mahi in their backyard trapping efforts there’s an additional 154 predators removed this 1st quarter! Thankyou local residents!
Our All-time Predator Catch Tally (not including our backyard trapping projects) has now hit 11,885 predators.
Our All-time Predator Catch Tally
GENERAL NEWS 1ST QUARTER:
Sabotage in Okura Bush:
Have been dealt a few blows this past quarter with the theft of over $1,500 worth of traps along the remaining walkway between the Sandspit and Karepiro Beach. They came back for more not long after our initial report, meaning they risked their personal safety and that of the Kauri in the bush by traipsing through a lot of unstable mud. We can’t imagine they took a PA mitigation sanitation kit with them like the few of our volunteers that have gained a DOC permit have to use at multiple specified locations to keep our Kauri protected from further spread of the disease.
We’ve also had the padlocked gate at the bridge attacked a number of times this past quarter, including an attempt to burn the padlock on the gate which also burnt the wooden gate. No thoughts as to the harm they might have caused if the fire got out of control on the bridge and spread into the ngahere or through the western field of exotic Pampas and pine trees.
There are now some security cameras to hold people to account, so hopefully we can get back to reducing predator numbers so our natives can thrive.
A HUGE thank you for all our trappers mahi looking after nature.
We really do appreciate you giving your time to this cause.
We are always on the lookout for more volunteers so that we can reduce the pressure on our existing volunteers, and also so that we can amplify the protection of our existing areas and extend protection into wider buffer zones. Don’t let the thought of seeing dead predators put you off, we also have bait stations, or tracking tunnels. It’s a great way to enjoy nature so please get in touch if you think it might be for you.