Beautiful Bay of Islands, pity about all those rats

At night on Urupukapuka Island in the Bay of Islands, the ground seems to move - the island is crawling with rats, and they're eating everything.

"They are probably the most devastating pest we have in New Zealand," says Lynette Smith, spokeswoman for the Guardians of the Bay of Islands.

The group, being launched next week, aims to reverse some of the damage rats and stoats have wreaked on the islands.

"People think the islands are idyllic. But they're not anymore.

"They've been taken over. These pests are killing everything - birds, chicks, eggs, insects, seeds, seedlings. The rats are even eating sand-hoppers out of the sand on the foreshore, and campers' food isn't safe either."

The Guardians will work with the Department of Conservation, iwi and landowners to come up with a strategy to clear the islands of pests, and re-introduce native birds.

The seven main islands in the eastern Bay of Islands and many smaller ones all have rat problems.

"New Zealand leads the world in eradicating rats from islands," said Mrs Smith. "Our experts are now going all over the world doing it, why aren't we doing it here in the Bay of Islands?

"We have islands and we have the opportunity to do something really positive to save our native species."

She says it's taken three years of work to get this far and the time is right for the guardians to start work in earnest.

"We've lost so much of our native wildlife already ... If we don't get rid of the rats there is no possibility of getting back birds such as saddlebacks, whiteheads, kakariki, bellbirds, North Island robin and kokako.

"This is the choice we have, rats or our native birds."

* Anyone wishing to join the Guardians should ring Lynette Smith on (09) 407 5989 or attend the inaugural meeting - Paihia War Memorial Hall, 7pm, May 4.