Mt Pirongia
Bait Station Grid
Pest Control on Mt Pirongia
ABOUT THE PROJECT
To protect our native birds during the nesting season we use an anticoagulant bait in bait stations to reduce the number of mammalian pests in the area. This targets rats and possums who not only eat eggs but can attack nesting birds.
During the spring our incredible team of community volunteers help us re-bait the
network of bait stations covering 1030 hectares of the northeastern face of the maunga.
to help fill bait stations or monitor rat populations using tracking tunnels
Greater protection for our maunga:
How the grid has grown since 2006
RESULTS
Thanks to our rat monitoring work we know that we have reduced annual rat populations to an index average of less than 3% of their pre-control numbers.
Conservation guidelines recommend a
minimum of 5-3% to effectively protect birds from predation. We are proud of our results and can see the benefit with increased native bird numbers.
