Rats in Rotorua – How to protect our native birds

A rat and kereru egg. Photo / Nga Manu Nature Images

By Moerangi Vercoe

Comment: You've probably heard of the "monster rats" plaguing various urban centres around Aotearoa, and we're no exception here in Rotorua. Within one week, at Rotorua Canopy Tours, we caught more than 160 rats and mice in a section of forest we set up with traps just outside of the city.

The thought of 160 rodents swarming around isn't a pleasant one, and aside from causing damage to properties and infrastructure, and posing health risks, rats cause serious harm to our native species. Rats are well known for attacking native birds and eating their chicks and eggs. They're also in direct competition with our native species for food sources.

All of our native species evolved in a habitat which posed no major mammalian predator threats; rather they had to worry about birds of prey - meaning that often a native species will freeze to try to hide from a predator rather than run away. Subsequently, most of our birds can't fly and spend a lot of time on the ground and in burrows. This sadly makes them sitting ducks.

It's also not just the rats our birds need to worry about. Stoats are the number one predator of native species in Aotearoa, indiscriminately preying on any bird it can get its jaws on. Possums are pretty keen on over-eating our native plants too.

There's been no shortage of news on the dreaded mega-mast year – which happens every few years when our native trees drop heavy amounts of seed into the forests. Usually, this is a good thing for our birds – lots of extra food to help them bulk up for winter. But now Aotearoa is a land teeming with mammalian predators. This seed bulks the rats and stoats up instead. Once the seed runs out, these pests then turn to our native birds.

This year's beech mast event won't be hitting us too hard in the North Island though – most of our beech forests are in the South Island. What's likely leading to an increase in rat numbers in our North Island centres is the warmer weather (thanks climate change!) which leads to an increase in rat breeding.

Moerangi Vercoe, business development manager at Rotorua Canopy Tours. Photo / Supplied

Luckily for our native birds, Aotearoa is a nation of the bird obsessed. There are thousands of community groups, businesses and public agencies out working hard to make a positive difference to the environment to protect our native species. So, what's happening in Rotorua specifically?

Firstly, it's important to recognise what birds we have in our area so we can identify how to best protect them. Our forests were once home to abundant populations of kākā, kōkako, kiwi, and tīeke (saddleback) before the introduction of pests. Nowadays, most of these birds can only be seen in sanctuaries or inland pest-controlled islands.

It's important to support organisations that provide sanctuary for these birds to survive and breed in. Rotorua is home to many such ecology projects – both private and public sector initiatives. My suggestion is to find a native species that means something to you and find a group that's doing something about it to get involved with. If there isn't a group? Start one! We all need to work together to protect our native taonga.

It's up to us as individuals to get involved as a collective to make a meaningful difference. What are you going to do to help stop yet another native species from going extinct?

• Moerangi Vercoe, business development manager at Rotorua Canopy Tours