Pest Control

Not only are there many more sheep and cows than people in NZ, there are also many more possums - about 30 million of these marsupials live in the bush, farmland and gardens of New Zealand.

And like sheep and cows, possums have a voracious appetite, munching through up to 21,000 tonnes of vegetation per night, much of it native trees and plants. They also
eat bird eggs and insects like the weta.

The possum is endangered in Australia, its homeland, where trees release foul-tasting chemicals to deter the hungry critters. In NZ, hunting of possums is allowed - encouraged, even - and merino wool mixed with possum fur is made into beautifully soft knitwear in a bid to protect the fragile kiwi ecosystem.

So as responsible landowners, we have installed possum bait stations (supplied free by Forest and Bird) in our two areas of bush in the hope of reducing the numbers of possums in the area and encouraging native birds and bush to regenerate.



We've also laid out some tunnels which will be fitted with ink pads and baited so that we can see whether we have any stoats, rats or other similar introduced pests roaming around, with a view to fitting mustelid traps if necessary.



We'll be reporting back in due course if we find anything...