Source: NZ Department of Conservation
Seeing a stoat den lined with feathers from rare native birds motivated Elaine Murphy to become a scientist at the Department of Conservation over 30 years ago. Elaine has since spent most of her career studying introduced predators and finding ways to protect native species.
Now in her final year with DOC as Principal Scientist in the Predator Science team, Elaine recently announced a major breakthrough for the Predator Free 2050 programme – a new meat sausage bait to target stoats with the toxin PAPP (para-aminopropiophenone).
“We’ve been working for about a decade to come up with a humane, cost-effective tool for removing stoats. We just finished our trials in stoat-heavy territory in Fiordland, and the results exceeded our expectations. We couldn’t detect any stoats in the project area after aerially applying one bait every hectare.”
Strengthening the tool kit to protect native species
The sausage bait will need to be approved and registered by the Environmental Protection Authority and Ministry for Primary Industries, and Elaine hopes it will be available for wide-spread use by DOC, other agencies and community groups within the next two-three years.
“It will be very helpful addition to the Predator Free 2050 tool kit. It provides an additional option to 1080 for targeting predators across large landscapes. It will also be very effective for ground-based efforts, for example in places like Waiheke Island where we are trying to remove stoats to protect kiwi and other native birds.”
Elaine has a long history with stoats. In the 90s she discovered that they could have home ranges of over 100 hectares. She also figured out they can be controlled through secondary poisoning by targeting rats. This method has been critical in the fight to save native species from going extinct.
“I have great respect for stoats; they are incredibly smart but so damaging for our native species. When they kill prey, they use the feathers to insulate their dens. I’ve seen dens lined with some of our most vulnerable species including kākā, mohua and kiwi.”
A predator-free champion
Ealine’s research has been funded through DOC’s Predator Free 2050 Tools to Market programme, and further tests will be done on a higher-potency bait to target feral cats.
To continue making progress towards the Predator Free 2050 goal, Elaine says we need to trust our ability to learn and take confidence in the results already being achieved for native wildlife.
“I sometimes get frustrated when people question our potential in the predator-free space. We are already achieving great things, so let’s continue to build off that and see where we get to.”
Elaine is a member of the technical advisory groups for Te Korowai o Waiheke and Pest Free Banks Peninsula. She says these projects show Predator Free 2050 is a vision worth buying into.
“The community support is huge, and people are seeing first-hand the benefits with increasing numbers of birds and other species. At our family bach on Waiheke, we never used to see kākā, but recently I saw six of them flying over us.”
Predator Free 2050 is the change we needed for conservation – something big to aim for, she says. She uses the example of Predator Free South Westland where DOC, Zero Invasive Predators and the local community are creating the largest mainland predator-free sanctuary.
“The team are trying to keep this huge area clear of rats and stoats, while coming up with new tools and methods along the way. Of course there are re-invasion challenges, but most importantly they are learning how to manage these and make the predator removal process more cost-effective.”
Creating space for young scientists to get involved
Although Elaine is retiring from DOC at the end of the year, she will continue be a champion for science and innovation in New Zealand. She hopes to see more opportunities created for younger scientists to step into her shoes.
“Science jobs can be hard to find in conservation. We need to keep encouraging young people to come through the universities and create space for them. We don’t want smart young people going overseas because of a lack of investment here.
“That’s why Predator Free 2050 is such an exciting mission – it’s capturing people’s imaginations across the country, and thankfully we have some resources to help make it happen.”
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Original source: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/05/21/new-stoat-bait-a-30-year-journey-for-predator-free-scientist/