Predator Control

New Zealand has a range of introduced waterfowl predators. These include feral cats, rats, mice, mustelids, possums & hedgehogs. Pukekos & Harrier Hawks are also potential predators. I’ve had some experience in pest control at the Cape Sanctuary, mainly killing cats & pukekos, and have a rough idea on trapping pests.

The basic philosophy of the predator control is to have a multilayered approach that includes trapping, shooting & excluding, without the intent of being completely predator free to start with. My pack of hunting dogs that really do not like cats, possums, pukekos or hedgehogs. They provide one of the layers of predator control.

Hedgehogs: These will be excluded with a chickenwire fence, shot with a thermal scope or found by my dogs and destroyed. For those outside New Zealand Hedgehogs are an introduced pest that will eat the eggs and ducklings in the nest. The swamp has a few hedgehogs and there is a resident population that will move in when previous hedgehogs are killed.

Cats: Feral cats will be trapped using live cage traps so any domestic cat that inadvertently is trapped can be returned to its owner. The dogs will happily tree any cat they can. 

Possums: These will be trapped and shot using thermal imaging gear. There is a resident population of possums, and possums seem to rapidly replace the possums killed. The dogs object strongly to possums and are extremely good at treeing them or identifying which tree they are in, howling like coon hounds when they tree something.

Pūkekos: Currently there are no pūkekos on the property, but there are plently close by. As the swamp develops they will be expected to move in. Pūkekos predate nests and ducklings, and are very destructive in new plantings, pulling up plants and leaving them to die.

In the season these will be shot under the standard New Zealand Fish & Game license & regulations. Outside the season a permit may be sought to control pūkekos if necessary. All the dogs are efficient on pukekos, either flushing or catching them.

Rats & Mice: These are the hardest of the pests to completely control as they are the most plentiful and the hardest to control without a full predator fence, which is not realistic for the kind of wetland I want to create.

Mustelids: There are mustelids present but it is hard to know how many or how frequently they come through the property. In the breeding season I will run a variety of predator traps, and my dogs will hunt them as targets of opportunity if they are around, but they are hard to specifically target effectively when their numbers are so low.