Why a 'cute' pet is now included in a pest management plan
While unlikely to form a sewer-dwelling gang of martial arts fighters, escaped or released pets can harm ecosystems and native species.
The Regional Pest Management Plan sets the Bay of Plenty Regional Council's priorities and goals for managing animal and pest plants, and includes rules to comply with the Biosecurity Act.
A recent council review has resulted in new species being added as pests, and changes to how others are categorised.
As of this week, all wallaby species known to be in the country and all introduced turtles will be included.
ADVERTISEMENT
Biosecurity team leader Shane Grayling said the pest management landscape was 'ever changing'.
'The pests included in the [plan] and the ways to manage them have recently been reconsidered to reflect emerging pest issues.'
It was the first time turtles were included in the plan, covering all introduced freshwater types.
Consultation on the topic showed split views on the need to manage turtles.
Some submitters asked for introduced turtles to be included in the eradication programme rather than sustained control, some wanted a ban on the sale and breeding of them, while others did not believe turtles caused adverse environmental effects that needed to be managed.
Grayling said climate change and the Rotorua area's warm geothermal soils increased the likelihood turtles were able to successfully breed in the wild.
This included red-eared slider turtles, which have been found abandoned and breeding in Bay of Plenty waterways.
ADVERTISEMENT
From 50c coin to the size of a dinner plate
Growing turtle numbers are putting a strain on the country's biodiversity. (Source: 1News)
Katikati reptile breeders Donna and Graeme Hannah, who have worked to raise awareness of the issue, told SunLive last year they were often called by people who found abandoned turtles.
'They start off cute around the size of a 50c piece,' Graeme Hannah said. But they could live 50 years and grow to the size of a dinner plate, needing more maintenance and a bigger tank or pond and leading owners to abandon them.
Sightings reported to the regional council included a female found nesting in Tauranga's Gordon Carmichael Reserve with 16 eggs.
The turtles feed on small fish, plants, kōura (freshwater crayfish) and small birds such as ducklings, degrade water quality by disrupting the ecosystem, and displace wetland birds by taking over nesting sites.
Under the new regional rules, turtle sales could continue but pet owners were required to house them securely to prevent escape.
ADVERTISEMENT
'There have been instances previously where there has been no barrier around a pond to prevent the turtle from relocating elsewhere,' Grayling said.
He said anecdotally, there have been increased reports of turtle sightings across the region over the past couple of years. The majority were red-eared sliders.
Turtles were 'inherently difficult to catch' and therefore controlling them was challenging.
The council would respond to reported sightings in the wild and consider options for control on a case-by-case basis.
'The focus for council particularly in the short term will be on education and advocacy for responsible turtle ownership.'
Controlling wallaby spread
All wallaby species found in New Zealand are now included in the plan. (Source: Andrew Warner)
ADVERTISEMENT
The pre-amended plan only listed the dama wallaby as a pest, but Grayling said the need to include all known species found in New Zealand was identified after the parma wallaby was discovered around the Rotorua Te Arawa Lakes in 2023.
Dama and parma were now listed under the progressive containment and eradication programme. Other species not known to be in the Bay of Plenty were under the exclusion programme.
'The amendment is a technical one and there is no change in how wallaby control is managed or funded,' Grayling said.
Efforts to control wallaby spread were funded with $1 million this year under the International Visitor Levy, including for work in the Te Arawa area.
Exotic caulerpa, a pest seaweed, was also included in the plan to minimise the risk of it entering the region. It has been described as the country's most serious marine biosecurity invasion in a lifetime.
Corbicula – invasive exotic freshwater clams – were also listed as exclusionary pests.
Other changes in the plan included treating certain species of conifers as pests, regardless of whether they were deliberately planted or not.
The amendments prohibit new plantings of these species, to ensure that the region's biodiversity is protected from the potential impact of pines growing in the wild.
LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Otago Daily Times
2 days ago
- Otago Daily Times
Ferrets enlisted in Queenstown rabbit fight
By Katie Todd of RNZ A team of tamed ferrets has been making short work of a long-eared problem in the battle against Queenstown's rampant rabbit population. The mustelids are part of an unusual pest control operation run by Jim Curry and his partner Jacqui Elson, who believe the best way to fight an introduced pest is with another. Earlier this week, star ferret Oprah Winfrey took the lead to flush out a warren at a vacant property in Lower Shotover, as detection dogs waited at the ready to catch runaways. Curry said the premise was simple - fences up, ferret in and "hopefully we'll watch the fireworks as rabbits come flying out both sides". Over two days of methodical work, the ferrets managed to flush out more than 100 rabbits, which were quickly dispatched with a break of the neck. Elson said it was just another job in what had become a near non-stop string of requests since relocating their business 'Jim's Bunny Hunters' to Queenstown. She said they took on work across farms, lifestyle blocks and commercial sites, often booked by curious locals who had seen their rabbit-laden ute. "They'll stop and follow us into like petrol station or cafe or something, because they've seen what we've got on the ute. People will literally stalk you into a petrol station saying 'I saw your licence plate. We need you,'" she said. Curry said school pick-ups were especially time-consuming because of the ferrets' popularity - and trips around the country often garnered a lot of attention. "We're the only people licensed to transport ferrets all around New Zealand, between islands, which gets you some interesting look on the ferries," he said. A safer way to tackle the problem Each of the ferrets was caught from the wild, mostly by Curry. They could not be imported or bred because ferrets are classified as an "unwanted organism" under the Biosecurity Act. While Curry and Elson were not the only ferreters in the region, they had special MPI approval to keep more than the usual limit of three ferrets. Elson said the ferrets were highly effective hunters and were a safer alternative to poison. On a recent job, she said their results eclipsed those of professional shooters. "The commercial shooters were getting, I think they said about 900, 1000 in a year, and we got about that, including young ones, in three-and-a-half days," she said. "They were getting predominantly males, whereas because we're using the ferrets to get into the holes, we're getting predominantly females with young as well. So it's more efficient, makes a huge difference," she said. Elson said they made the most of each rabbit caught. "We can use an introduced pest, to then catch other introduced pests and then use the rabbits to give back to wildlife rescues for hawks and falcons, little owls, or other zoos. Whatever else isn't fed to our animals then goes to trapping programmes for wild cats, other ferrets, stoats, rats," she said. After each hunt, Elson and Curry filled in the rabbit holes to make sure the area was clear, then if any rabbits remained they would return under the cover of darkness for shooting. Curry said often the most challenging part of the operation was coaxing the ferrets back out, which were known to linger obstinately underground, despite wearing special tracking collars. "The stubborn ones can take a bit of work to get out," he said. A dream realised Ferrets have been a lifelong obsession for Curry, who grew up in the UK. "I'd been reading all the Farmer's Weekly magazines and various hunting magazines and books and things about ferreting for years. I always wanted to do it, but I didn't have the money or the knowledge or the land," he said. Seven years ago in Darfield, someone posted on Facebook about a chicken killer and Curry retrieved the culprit - a ferret he dubbed Colin Farrell. Two more followed and soon Curry was not just rescuing ferrets but putting them to work. "I just went 'right, sod this, I've always wanted to do it'. I ordered some trackers and then ordered purse nets from the UK. It basically started with me knocking on people's doors saying 'hi, I see you've got some rabbits. Can I come and catch them?'" he said. The pair began in Canterbury but Elson said it was a no-brainer when the opportunity arose to shift to rabbit-plagued Queenstown. Curry said the ferret flock had expanded to a star-studded line-up over time. "We have Oprah Winfrey, Hillary Clinton, Kamala Harris, and Jacinda Ardern, an R Kelly, a P Diddy and a Drake. And then we have a Joe Biden," he said. A persistent problem Otago Regional Council (ORC) considered rabbits one of the area's worst pests, posing a serious threat to the local biodiversity, the environment and economy. Southern Lakes Sanctuary chief executive Paul Kavanagh said they were known to let other predators thrive and tore up land and ate fertile grass, with 10 rabbits devouring the equivalent of one sheep's requirements. "In many of our ecosystems in central Otago, predator numbers are controlled by food availability. So where we get a lot of rabbits, we in turn get a lot of feral cats, stoats, ferrets, weasels," he said. He described the region's rabbit numbers as "relatively out of control". "Anecdotally, we've heard it's getting worse in some areas, especially Cromwell, places like that," he said. In 2023 the ORC discovered rabbit densities of up to 16 rabbits per square kilometre in some parts of Otago. The council said it was undertaking further rabbit night counts across the region and expected to have updated population estimates soon. Staff regularly carried out inspections across the region to identify rabbit hotspots and had helped to develop five "community rabbit management programmes" across the region, the council said. The ORC said it could help landowners tackle their rabbit problem but ultimately it was the landowners or occupiers responsibility to manage the problem.
Otago Daily Times
2 days ago
- Otago Daily Times
'Kamala' and 'Jacinda' enlisted in the war on rabbits
By Katie Todd of RNZ A team of tamed ferrets has been making short work of a long-eared problem in the battle against a rampant rabbit population. The mustelids are part of an unusual pest control operation run by Jim Curry and his partner Jacqui Elson, who believe the best way to fight an introduced pest is with another. Earlier this week, star ferret Oprah Winfrey took the lead to flush out a warren at a vacant property in Lower Shotover, Queenstown, as detection dogs waited at the ready to catch runaways. Curry said the premise was simple - fences up, ferret in and "hopefully we'll watch the fireworks as rabbits come flying out both sides". Over two days of methodical work, the ferrets managed to flush out more than 100 rabbits, which were quickly dispatched with a break of the neck. Elson said it was just another job in what had become a near non-stop string of requests since relocating their business 'Jim's Bunny Hunters' to Queenstown. She said they took on work across farms, lifestyle blocks and commercial sites, often booked by curious locals who had seen their rabbit-laden ute. "They'll stop and follow us into like petrol station or cafe or something, because they've seen what we've got on the ute. People will literally stalk you into a petrol station saying 'I saw your licence plate. We need you,'" she said. Curry said school pick-ups were especially time-consuming because of the ferrets' popularity - and trips around the country often garnered a lot of attention. "We're the only people licensed to transport ferrets all around New Zealand, between islands, which gets you some interesting look on the ferries," he said. A safer way to tackle the problem Each of the ferrets was caught from the wild, mostly by Curry. They could not be imported or bred because ferrets are classified as an "unwanted organism" under the Biosecurity Act. While Curry and Elson were not the only ferreters in the region, they had special MPI approval to keep more than the usual limit of three ferrets. Elson said the ferrets were highly effective hunters and were a safer alternative to poison. On a recent job, she said their results eclipsed those of professional shooters. "The commercial shooters were getting, I think they said about 900, 1000 in a year, and we got about that, including young ones, in three-and-a-half days," she said. "They were getting predominantly males, whereas because we're using the ferrets to get into the holes, we're getting predominantly females with young as well. So it's more efficient, makes a huge difference," she said. Elson said they made the most of each rabbit caught. "We can use an introduced pest, to then catch other introduced pests and then use the rabbits to give back to wildlife rescues for hawks and falcons, little owls, or other zoos. Whatever else isn't fed to our animals then goes to trapping programmes for wild cats, other ferrets, stoats, rats," she said. After each hunt, Elson and Curry filled in the rabbit holes to make sure the area was clear, then if any rabbits remained they would return under the cover of darkness for shooting. Curry said often the most challenging part of the operation was coaxing the ferrets back out, which were known to linger obstinately underground, despite wearing special tracking collars. "The stubborn ones can take a bit of work to get out," he said. A dream realised Ferrets have been a lifelong obsession for Curry, who grew up in the UK. "I'd been reading all the Farmer's Weekly magazines and various hunting magazines and books and things about ferreting for years. I always wanted to do it, but I didn't have the money or the knowledge or the land," he said. Seven years ago in Darfield, someone posted on Facebook about a chicken killer and Curry retrieved the culprit - a ferret he dubbed Colin Farrell. Two more followed and soon Curry was not just rescuing ferrets but putting them to work. "I just went 'right, sod this, I've always wanted to do it'. I ordered some trackers and then ordered purse nets from the UK. It basically started with me knocking on people's doors saying 'hi, I see you've got some rabbits. Can I come and catch them?'" he said. The pair began in Canterbury but Elson said it was a no-brainer when the opportunity arose to shift to rabbit-plagued Queenstown. Curry said the ferret flock had expanded to a star-studded line-up over time. "We have Oprah Winfrey, Hillary Clinton, Kamala Harris, and Jacinda Ardern, an R Kelly, a P Diddy and a Drake. And then we have a Joe Biden," he said. A persistent problem Otago Regional Council (ORC) considered rabbits one of the area's worst pests, posing a serious threat to the local biodiversity, the environment and economy. Southern Lakes Sanctuary chief executive Paul Kavanagh said they were known to let other predators thrive and tore up land and ate fertile grass, with 10 rabbits devouring the equivalent of one sheep's requirements. "In many of our ecosystems in central Otago, predator numbers are controlled by food availability. So where we get a lot of rabbits, we in turn get a lot of feral cats, stoats, ferrets, weasels," he said. He described the region's rabbit numbers as "relatively out of control". "Anecdotally, we've heard it's getting worse in some areas, especially Cromwell, places like that," he said. In 2023 the ORC discovered rabbit densities of up to 16 rabbits per square kilometre in some parts of Otago. The council said it was undertaking further rabbit night counts across the region and expected to have updated population estimates soon. Staff regularly carried out inspections across the region to identify rabbit hotspots and had helped to develop five "community rabbit management programmes" across the region, the council said. The ORC said it could help landowners tackle their rabbit problem but ultimately it was the landowners or occupiers responsibility to manage the problem.
Otago Daily Times
3 days ago
- Otago Daily Times
'Kamala Harris' and 'Jacinda Ardern' enlisted in war on rabbits
By Katie Todd of RNZ A team of tamed ferrets has been making short work of a long-eared problem in the battle against a rampant rabbit population. The mustelids are part of an unusual pest control operation run by Jim Curry and his partner Jacqui Elson, who believe the best way to fight an introduced pest is with another. Earlier this week, star ferret Oprah Winfrey took the lead to flush out a warren at a vacant property in Lower Shotover, Queenstown, as detection dogs waited at the ready to catch runaways. Curry said the premise was simple - fences up, ferret in and "hopefully we'll watch the fireworks as rabbits come flying out both sides". Over two days of methodical work, the ferrets managed to flush out more than 100 rabbits, which were quickly dispatched with a break of the neck. Elson said it was just another job in what had become a near non-stop string of requests since relocating their business 'Jim's Bunny Hunters' to Queenstown. She said they took on work across farms, lifestyle blocks and commercial sites, often booked by curious locals who had seen their rabbit-laden ute. "They'll stop and follow us into like petrol station or cafe or something, because they've seen what we've got on the ute. People will literally stalk you into a petrol station saying 'I saw your licence plate. We need you,'" she said. Curry said school pick-ups were especially time-consuming because of the ferrets' popularity - and trips around the country often garnered a lot of attention. "We're the only people licensed to transport ferrets all around New Zealand, between islands, which gets you some interesting look on the ferries," he said. A safer way to tackle the problem Each of the ferrets was caught from the wild, mostly by Curry. They could not be imported or bred because ferrets are classified as an "unwanted organism" under the Biosecurity Act. While Curry and Elson were not the only ferreters in the region, they had special MPI approval to keep more than the usual limit of three ferrets. Elson said the ferrets were highly effective hunters and were a safer alternative to poison. On a recent job, she said their results eclipsed those of professional shooters. "The commercial shooters were getting, I think they said about 900, 1000 in a year, and we got about that, including young ones, in three-and-a-half days," she said. "They were getting predominantly males, whereas because we're using the ferrets to get into the holes, we're getting predominantly females with young as well. So it's more efficient, makes a huge difference," she said. Elson said they made the most of each rabbit caught. "We can use an introduced pest, to then catch other introduced pests and then use the rabbits to give back to wildlife rescues for hawks and falcons, little owls, or other zoos. Whatever else isn't fed to our animals then goes to trapping programmes for wild cats, other ferrets, stoats, rats," she said. After each hunt, Elson and Curry filled in the rabbit holes to make sure the area was clear, then if any rabbits remained they would return under the cover of darkness for shooting. Curry said often the most challenging part of the operation was coaxing the ferrets back out, which were known to linger obstinately underground, despite wearing special tracking collars. "The stubborn ones can take a bit of work to get out," he said. A dream realised Ferrets have been a lifelong obsession for Curry, who grew up in the UK. "I'd been reading all the Farmer's Weekly magazines and various hunting magazines and books and things about ferreting for years. I always wanted to do it, but I didn't have the money or the knowledge or the land," he said. Seven years ago in Darfield, someone posted on Facebook about a chicken killer and Curry retrieved the culprit - a ferret he dubbed Colin Farrell. Two more followed and soon Curry was not just rescuing ferrets but putting them to work. "I just went 'right, sod this, I've always wanted to do it'. I ordered some trackers and then ordered purse nets from the UK. It basically started with me knocking on people's doors saying 'hi, I see you've got some rabbits. Can I come and catch them?'" he said. The pair began in Canterbury but Elson said it was a no-brainer when the opportunity arose to shift to rabbit-plagued Queenstown. Curry said the ferret flock had expanded to a star-studded line-up over time. "We have Oprah Winfrey, Hillary Clinton, Kamala Harris, and Jacinda Ardern, an R Kelly, a P Diddy and a Drake. And then we have a Joe Biden," he said. A persistent problem Otago Regional Council (ORC) considered rabbits one of the area's worst pests, posing a serious threat to the local biodiversity, the environment and economy. Southern Lakes Sanctuary chief executive Paul Kavanagh said they were known to let other predators thrive and tore up land and ate fertile grass, with 10 rabbits devouring the equivalent of one sheep's requirements. "In many of our ecosystems in central Otago, predator numbers are controlled by food availability. So where we get a lot of rabbits, we in turn get a lot of feral cats, stoats, ferrets, weasels," he said. He described the region's rabbit numbers as "relatively out of control". "Anecdotally, we've heard it's getting worse in some areas, especially Cromwell, places like that," he said. In 2023 the ORC discovered rabbit densities of up to 16 rabbits per square kilometre in some parts of Otago. The council said it was undertaking further rabbit night counts across the region and expected to have updated population estimates soon. Staff regularly carried out inspections across the region to identify rabbit hotspots and had helped to develop five "community rabbit management programmes" across the region, the council said. The ORC said it could help landowners tackle their rabbit problem but ultimately it was the landowners or occupiers responsibility to manage the problem.
