Urban trapping workshops to help save wildlife in NZ

Predator free NZ is a major priority.

A Wanaka conservationist and Predator Free New Zealand advocate believes trapping has to be done in urban backyards if we are to save New Zealand's wildlife and has organised two workshops this week to demonstrate how to do it.

Wanaka Backyard Trapping organiser Kris Vollebregt said much trapping was done on public conservation land ''but we have urban ecosystems that are part of the Central Otago landscape that need protecting, too''.

''We have some fantastic invertebrates here, skinks and lizards that aren't as pretty and as showy as birds but they are just as important and need to be protected from predators,'' she said.

Rats were commonly found near backyard compost heaps and stoats were known to roam great distances for food.

Ms Vollebregt said the workshops would answer questions such as which traps to use for specific pests, how the traps work, what pests are in our backyards and how to maintain the traps.

The workshops would start with ''the easier predators'' such as rats, stoats, ferrets and hedgehogs, as possums and feral cat traps could pose issues with pets.

Trapper Billy Barton would attend the workshops, she said.

Wanaka Backyard Trapping is supported by the Department of Conservation, Queenstown Lakes District Council and Fish & Game New Zealand.

The workshops will be held tomorrow, from 5.30pm to 7.30pm at the former Fish & Game fish hatchery in Stone St, and on Saturday, from 9.30am to 11.30am at The Yard, 14 Reece Cres.