NZ has embarked on an absolutely madly ambitious policy of ridding the place of pests and nasty predators.  How ridiculous (?)… 

Similarly we have all admired and wondered about the valiant efforts of Didymo Dave and his extermination of rats and stoats etc. on the Hinemaiaia River and elsewhere. 

But is trapping really effective? 

In case you imagine his efforts are in vain (?) consider the following:

(In case you cannot decipher the fine print above, a brief summary is the lead feature article in the Taupo & Turangi Weekender newspaper for 31 August, by Laurilee McMichael:)

10,000th pest caught

Fifteen years ago a newly-formed group set up to trap predators at Pukawa caught its first rat.  It was September 9 2002. 

Fast forward to 2017 and the Pukawa Wildlife Management Trust at the southern end of Lake Taupo has just notched up its 10,000th pest with the vast majority – more than 7000 of them – rats. 

The remainder of them has been possums, hedgehogs, stoats, weasels, cats and mice. 

It’s a huge achievement for a trust which relies solely on volunteers and grants and has 194 hectares with 15 trap lines to cover.  (Each trap line has between 12 and 25 numbered traps.)

Trust secretary Jean Stanley (87 years young!) says the idea to target pests and predators came about in 2002 at a community get-together at the bush-clad village, when somebody asked why, with all that bush around, were there no birds to be seen?…..

Despite 15 years of being hammered, the pests just keep on coming, Jean says.  But without the trapping the bush would be completely silent.  “We’re still catching 40 or 50 rats a month…”

This is mentioned as recently I needed to escape TRM laundry and found an excuse to stroll through their bush track from Pukawa to Omori. 

From that walk alone I can confirm trapping is effective as the bird life was just fantastic. 

I had to stop for several minutes just to listen, entranced by their  orchestra.  (So who needs 1080 when you have local residents like these?)

An example of their commitment is their custom designed 5 star weta hotel – but you really need to go there to see it…. 

Imagine if this same sense of community responsibility and pride was infectious throughout the rest of NZ?