Watch out Pukawa rats!

Date:  12 August 2013

The native bird breeding season is also rat poison baiting season in Pukawa-Omori-Kuratau, laid out by volunteers to help bring the birds back to the bush. The season has also started with a bang with bright new information signs and a new trapping line to defend the last rat highway into town.

Delighted with the new bright information signs introducing the Pukawa Wildlife Trust are volunteer Jean Stanley and DOC ranger Anna McKnight.

Conservation volunteers lay rat poison bait from 1 August to 31 March on a weekly basis, also checking DOC 200 predator traps. Pukawa Wildlife Trust started in 2002, with Omori Pest Management Group being inspired to start trapping Omori-Kuratau in 2010. Possums and feral cats are also trapped.

Bright new information signs tell the story of the Pukawa Wildlife Trust and their work, and are placed at four entrance ways to the local walks.  

Volunteers John Milner and Max Jefferies installing a self-setting trap on the new Pukawa trap line.

The last rat has been cornered in Pukawa with volunteers putting in another bait station and trapping line across Gardiners Reserve along the top of the escarpment, accessed over private land. John Milner Pukawa volunteer expresses, "I can rest easy now knowing that all possible entrance ways of rats infiltrating Pukawa have been covered".

The operational areas of the bait lines are marked with poison warning signs. Poisons used by the community groups are rapidly biodegradable and have antidotes, supported by the Department of Conservation and the Taupo District Council. Please keep dogs on a leash and supervise children over this time. Most importantly, enjoy the bird song.

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