GREYMOUTH (CU)_In March last year, New Zealand parliamentarian Kiri Allan launched the Predator Free South Westland project, as part of the government’s plan to make the country predator free by 2050. The effects of the project are beginning to show in the South Westland, where native bird species are bouncing back after having their main threat removed.
According to recent figures, possums, stoats and rats have been successfully removed from a 12,000-hectare block in the Perth River Valley since April 2019. As a result, the detection counts of kakaruai (robins), kea and ngirungiru (tomtits) have more than doubled across the area between March 2019 and March 2021. Flocks of up to 80 kererū are detected in the valley, while Yellow-crowned kākāriki and kākā are also seen and heard regularly in the area.
Katie Milne, chairwoman of the Predator Free South Westland board, described the results as a “great example of how quickly native species can begin to bounce back when you remove their main threat – invasive predators – from their environment”. It was a hopeful preview of the ongoing work under the project, to which $45 million of funding will be mobilised over a period of five years to eliminate stoats, possums and rats between the Whataroa and Waiho rivers and the Southern Alps.
Zero Invasive Predators (ZIP), a part of Predator Free South Westland, used 1080 and traps to remove the pests, while natural barriers like mountains and rivers were used to keep them out. Meanwhile, a network of 142 lured trail cameras have been installed to act as the “eyes” on the ground, which means most of the area is essentially predator free. However, the success of the project hasn’t come without side effects, particularly as a result of the use of 1080, a biodegradable poison, which killed over 400 native black-backed gulls or karoro and a dog in November last year.
