East Coast pest/predator cull competition a huge success

The committee with the tally board are (from left) Paul Williams (holding board), Mike Loffler, Mandy Loffler, Patch Murphy, Sarah Williams, Steph Gardner, Min Vette and George Willock (holding board).

More than 700 predators and pests were eradicated at Whāngārā Community Catchment Group’s inaugural Catchment Cull competition last weekend.

The competition brought together local farmers, foresters and iwi members with a common cause of protecting and restoring the local whenua.

“Whāngārā has rare wetland bird species, the national marine reserve and an abundance of native bush blocks full of puriri, kahikatea and rata to name a few,” catchment group facilitator Sarah Williams said.

“The catchment group has big aspirations around restoring wetlands, rivers and bush blocks and creating corridors between the two, but for this to be effective we urgently need predator and pest numbers to be brought into control.

“Deer, goats, possums and rabbits are a serious challenge for native revegetation as they browse and eat new planting.

“Existing bush blocks are like mud underneath due to these pests browsing and living in the understory.

“Whāngārā holds the last population of wetland bird the spotted bittern and Te Tapuwae O Rongokaka national marine reserve is a sanctuary to many marine birds.

“Predators like ferrets, rats, wild cats and hedgehogs are a serious threat to these ground-nesting birds.”

The tails of the pests and predators accounted for were counted and the tallies recorded.

Williams said the ultimate goal was to have weka, kaka and kiwi return to the region.

“Also there are thousands of peacocks across Whāngārā...they carry disease and are a potential biosecurity risk.”

Sixteen teams, including 60 local children, were involved in the weekend cull.

“The children entered the competition with a focus on getting them out and learning about pest control.”

For some of the young hunters, it was a long and tiring night.

The teams eliminated 702 pests in one weekend including 312 possums and 190 goats.

Each team were gifted box traps for long-term monitoring from the catchment group and native trees donated by the district council.

“An array of spot prizes were given out to the kids, and the team with the highest cull were awarded a trophy,” Williams said.

Spot prizes were given out to the participants after what was a successful project to protect the Whāngārā environment.

The cull was sponsored by JNL, Eastland Vet Services, Hunting and Fishing, Ecoworks, Village Butchery, Gisborne District Council, Rabo Bank, East Coast Wools, McFall Fuel, Ravensdown, Ovation, Dickie Direct, Westpac, QE2, PGG Wrightson and Ballance.

Mana whenua Ngati Konohi donated popular goodies and mugs as spot prizes.

“We are excited to see how our local flora and fauna regenerates as we get on top of these introduced pests and predators that cause so much damage across the region,” Williams said.

Over the past few years, the Department of Internal Affairs had supported catchment group community events that had boosted resilience and morale, she said.

“Pakarae catchment was badly affected by Cyclone Gabrielle with debris and flooding, so it was wonderful to get the whole community together for a common cause of protecting our whenua.”