Ballance Agri-Nutrients

Company provides accommodation for little Southland locals

Intimate rooms in an exclusive native hideaway are providing a cosy future for some little Southland locals.

The herekopare or Foveaux Strait weta might be the smallest of the nine species of giant weta – but not small enough to escape the eye of Ballance Agri-Nutrients.

In 2008 the company’s technical field staff voted to mark World Environment Day with a sponsorship programme to improve the weta’s chances of survival.

Restoration work on Tihaka Island

That sponsorship meant more small dwelling boxes could be built for the 12 hectare Tihaka/Pig Island Scenic Reserve, to give the smallest giant a new chance to grow its population.

Ballance Agri-Nutrients staff travelled to the island, just off the Riverton coast, to plant natives, remove weeds, and check the boxes commonly known as “weta hotels”. The hotels were a hit and the weta quickly moved into their artificial homes.

The hotels are a comfortable hideaway and a tool for survival. They are transportable, and will make it easier to take weta to establish a new colony on nearby islands.

Ballance Agri-Nutrients’ foray into invertebrate accommodation is just the latest of commitments to conservation and the environment.

The company also leads by example with ongoing improvements at its Awarua plant –
just along the coast from an island where the smallest of the giant weta live in hotels.