City Sanctuary is excited to be expanding its predator control work into new suburbs: St Clair, Corstophine, Concord, Kew, and Calton Hill.

This area is important because of its proximity to the Otago Peninsula, where the goal is to eradicate possums by next year. Already, more than 22,000 possums have been removed from the peninsula and the next step is to have the entire area free of these invasive pests for good.

St Clair is also a special area for people and wildlife. The Garden Bird Survey shows tūī have returned to this part of town in the past few years and kererū, pīwakawaka/fantails and korimako/bellbirds are known to frequent backyards. The area is also home to seabirds like spotted shags, white-fronted terns, and kororā.

The first step is to find out if possums are frequenting the area to help identify any pathways they might use to travel back onto the peninsula. Staff and volunteers from City Sanctuary and the Otago Peninsula Biodiversity Group delivered letterbox packs to hundreds of households asking them to report any possums they have seen.

Dead or alive — if you have seen a possum, let us know using this Report a Possum form. This will help us to map where possums are present in different parts of the city and respond quickly to sightings in eradication areas.

The team has also been monitoring for possums in pockets of bush that run from the St Clair esplanade along to John Wilson Drive in St Kilda. So far, the wax-tag and chew card lines haven’t detected any possums — but there are definitely a few rats around! We haven’t been expecting to find any sign of possums in the area but using proven monitoring methods gives us more certainty that there aren’t any moving through this coastal corridor.

The City Sanctuary team have started engaging with local residents to trap in backyards across this area. Traps will also be established in forest habitat running along the coastline in case a hungry possum walks that way.

Camera monitoring with automatic lure pumps will be put out in potential movement corridors and monitoring will be conducted every season. These efforts will ensure that we help protect the peninsula from possum re-invasion and help the Otago Peninsula Biodiversity Group keep this important part of Dunedin free from possums permanently.

The team is also working with Second Beach Ecology Action and is excited to be soon beginning monitoring and trapping at the St Clair Golf Course.

If you live in the area and have possums visiting, please sign up to host a trap.