Source: Radio New Zealand
Otago Peninsula Biodiversity Group chairperson Hoani Langsbury is congratulating the community for reaching possum free, saying it would not have been possible without them. Supplied
Otago Peninsula has been officially declared possum-free after years of hard mahi.
The milestone was officially marked on Tuesday with more than 24,000 possums removed from about 10,000 hectares.
For more than 15 years, the community has led the charge to eliminate possums on the Otago Peninsula.
Otago Peninsula Biodiversity Group chairperson Hoani Langsbury said they would not have reached possum free without the community and many volunteers.
“Being community driven has enabled us to get onto nearly all of the properties. There’s virtually no one on the Otago Peninsula now that probably even realises that we still had possums up until recently because roadkill is something that the generations coming through now have never seen,” he said.
A possum trapped in the Otago region in 2024. Supplied
They have been waiting to mark this milestone for close to a year, and he was thrilled the community could finally celebrate the years of mahi.
It was far from easy terrain, covering steep cliff faces, farmland, gullies and bush to the backyards, villages and popular tourist trails.
Having new technology meant they could ramp up their efforts, he said.
“We have live capture traps in people’s backyards because they don’t want their pets getting caught up, through to cliff faces where it’s impossible for our volunteers or staff to get down, where drones and helicopters had to be used, Langsbury said.
Tūī, pīwakawaka and bellbird had all returned to the Peninsula and they were spreading the seeds that were now able to survive on trees, he said.
“It’s almost like a human-induced mast event where we have so much seed out there that, as long as we have plenty of birds to distribute it, we will see the peninsula come back naturally, and if we can augment that by the community helping with regenerational rewilding, the future can only be positive for the Otago Peninsula.”
Predator Free Dunedin – a collaboration of more than 20 organisations – took over the final push to eliminate possums in 2024.
It has received funding as part of the government’s goal to eliminate stoats, rats, possums and feral cats by 2050.
Project lead Rhys Millar said the project was existing on the smell of an oily rag in the early days and he did not think elimination was possible on such a limited budget despite the hard mahi.
Rhys Millar. Supplied/Predator Free Dunedin
It was a breakthrough moment when the Predator Free 2050 funding kicked in, he said.
Becoming possum free was a massive accomplishment, Millar said.
But it had been a challenge tracking down the last possums.
“Possums inhabit every little nook and cranny that they can so we would see a south facing, cold damp cliff as being inhospitable and not a place possums would live. They do,” he said.
“They will inhabit backyards and live in a tiny little heap next to a compost bin.”
They have been using a mix of technology to hunt them down including AI traps, thermal drones and even man’s best friend.
“The dog, probably not such modern technology, but having a focused scat dog in the team … has been the biggest detection device, the most useful detection device because it’s in real time.
“Scout can detect the scat and then we can allocate resource to that immediately.”
Detection dog Scout sniffs for scat to find possums. Supplied/Predator Free Dunedin
Department of Conservation strategic projects manager Brent Beaven said it was a great win.
“It’s amazing, isn’t it? The community’s been working a long time toward getting a possum free peninsula and that extra investment and focus associated with Predator Free achieved an eradication or an elimination of possums,” he said.
The community had been championing this project for years, Beaven said.
“Predator Free’s one of those goals across the country that can only succeed if communities buy into it and contribute to it so this is everyone’s business.
“We won’t achieve it unless we’ve got communities onboard.”
The country was doing really well towards its Predator Free 2050 goal, he said.
But the mahi was not over now the Otago Peninsula was possum free.
Hoani Langsbury said the Otago Peninsula Biodiversity Group had been talking with Ōtākou Runaka and the Otago Peninsula Trust about what was next.
“We’re already starting to talk about what next species look like, which ones we might need to suppress, which ones we may be able to eliminate and we’re not put off by the fact that it’s going to be another intergenerational project like the 17 years it took us to remove the possum,” Langsbury said.
For Predator Free Dunedin, its efforts would be shifting across the harbour to support The Halo Project and implement a pilot programme to eliminate possums, stoats, other mustelids and feral cats around Orokonui Ecosanctuary – about 2000 hectares.
The Halo Project, a delivery partner of Predator Free Dunedin, checks the elimination efforts in the Silver Peaks near Dunedin. Supplied/Predator Free Dunedin
Native birds were flourishing behind the pest proof fence, but once they left the safety of the ecosanctuary, he said they could become easy prey.
They also wanted to hold onto their community’s possum free win with an extensive AI live trapping network in the buffer zone and a request to residents to report any signs of possums.
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
