Getting serious about eradicating pests to protect native flora and fauna in New Zealand.
Shona is a part of Predator Free 2050 which is a charitable company established to help deliver NZ governments goals of eradicating possums, stoats, and rats by 2050. They currently fund 19,000 large landscape projects and have invested $75.6 million towards the goal.
Shona and Philipp live on an 18.2 hectare property and have trapped 80 possums just off one tree, along with 4 ferrets and a weasel. Wild rabbits are the biggest pest and to combat this Shona contracts a licensed hunter to remove rabbits at night with thermal imaging.
By doing these activities they are bringing the natural environment back to health with kererū, shining cuckoo (pīpīwharauroa), ruru (morepork) and tui on their land/in the area. Other native animals that are heavily protected in the area are:
- Bittern which fly from Bombay to further North, stopping off in Taupaki on the way. There are less than 2,000 left.
- Fairy Terns (Tara Iti) also migrate across this part of the country and there are less than 40 left.
- The Muriwai Gecko are endangered too
- Native bats that roost in larger trees and need protecting too.
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