Masterton conservation park declares war on rabbits

Pest control efforts will help native species at the Pūkaha National Wildlife Centre. Photo / Pūkaha National Wildlife Centre

By RNZ

A conservation park near Masterton is about to level up its battle against a soaring population of rabbits, after a funding boost from Government.

The Pūkaha National Wildlife Centre says rabbit numbers have increased rapidly, which has in turn attracted other pest species.

Rabbits are the main prey for ferrets and cats, and both have been measured in record numbers within the forest reserve and outside its boundaries.

Rabbits are the main diet of stoats like this one, but they also do significant damage to native species. Photo / Pūkaha National Wildlife Centre

So "those pesky rabbits" have worn out their welcome. In a statement, Pūkaha said $700,000 has been pledged by the Department of Conservation to tackle their problem.

The money will pay for three new staff to carry out a collaborative pest control programme for three years.

Local farmers and councils are working with Pūkaha on the project, which will be carried out on the reserve and a buffer zone of 2700 hectares of land surrounding it.

Pūkaha biodiversity manager Christine Reed said while rabbits have always been an issue for the area the problem got substantially worse in the past five years.

The Pūkaha National Wildlife Centre, at Mount Bruce in the Wairarapa. Photo / Pūkaha National Wildlife Centre

"They are thought to number in the tens of thousands around the reserve, resulting in loss of farm productivity and income, while also accelerating erosion and land degradation.

"It is extremely challenging for landowners to control rabbits on a property-by-property basis when rabbits are a landscape scale problem. Pūkaha is keen to work collectively with other affected properties to reduce costs and increase the benefits of effective large scale rabbit control."

- RNZ