Towards elimination: Peninsula possums down to final few

Now that possums are down to extremely low numbers on the outer Peninsula, we are using everything in our tool kit to track down and remove those last few. These include additional trail cameras, chew cards, community reports, scat detection and hunting dogs, and thermal drones.  

At the end of last year, Sector 3 was scoped out using a thermal drone and no possums were found. We’re proud to report that, so far, results suggest possums remain absent from this area. Additionally, we believe we are down to only two individuals in ‘Sector 2’!

Aerial view of the Otago Peninsula showing our operational ‘sectors’.

Meanwhile, in Sector 5, the Guardians (local volunteer trappers on the Peninsula) are doing an amazing job at preventing any possums from entering or exploring the Peninsula further. Possum scat detection and hunting dogs have also been through this area and tracked down and removed 5 possums.  

Peggy from Hoegh Hunting: Peggy is an expert at detected possum scat (poo) and has been invaluable in helping find possums in areas where they are down to very low numbers.

As we come close to possum elimination on the Peninsula, the impacts of lower pest species numbers are not going unnoticed. More and more, we are receiving reports from locals of significant increases in native birdlife. This is expected to be backed up by upcoming analysis of bird monitoring data. 

“Preliminary findings suggest that the number of tūī recorded in the monitoring was up to four times greater in 2023 compared to 2011.” - Marcia Dale, Otago Peninsula Biodiversity Group community engagement team leader.  

Left to right; korimako (bellbird), tūī, and tītipounamu (rifleman).

Now, more than ever, community support is crucial to eliminating possums on the Peninsula. If you see a possum, dead or alive on the Peninsula, use our Report a Possum form to send a notification of its location directly to us.