Possum Free Zone for Otago Peninsula
Residents and visitors alike will now be more aware of work to eradicate possums on the Otago Peninsula with a new “Possum Free Zone” sign on the Vauxhall Yacht Club.
The possum-free zone sign at the Vauxhall Yacht Club. Photo by Marcia Dale.
As people drive past, they should take note of the ideal possum habitat that sheltered harbourside properties provide. One resident in Vauxhall recently caught 9 possums in one month — thankfully that number is set to decrease as operations move further towards the city!
Just up the road from Vauxhall, you will find a suburb called The Cove. This marks the beginning of Sector 4 — the largest operational area on the Otago Peninsula. It spans 4,500 hectares of residential, rural, and reserve land and has seen a major possum knockdown operation over the past six months.
Bait stations that are only accessible to possums were the main tool used for the knockdown, whilst a lean grid of permanent traps is installed to keep numbers low. Sector 4 contains some areas of good possum habitat, but thanks to local support from landowners and the community, a good number of traps are out and around 1,200 possums have been removed so far this year. The community is also doing its part with 1 in 10 residential households within Sector 4 now hosting a backyard trap and over 300 possums being caught.
Chris with the 1000th community trap installed. Photo by Paula Cross.
So what’s next? Monitoring tools like cameras, wax tags, and chew cards are used to identify hotspots where possum numbers are still high. This is likely to include areas with good possum habitat – dense forest and corridors of bush that animals can move through. Then it’s on to the mop up phase — extra traps, shooting, and even possum dogs may be used to take out those last few possums. That’s why it’s so important for anyone on the Otago Peninsula to report any possums they see.
It's also important to prevent possums from returning to the Otago Peninsula. A group of Guardians at the neck of the peninsula are helping to stop possums from returning by trapping in backyards and reserves. This creates a buffer that is extended across Dunedin by City Sanctuary and the Halo Project.
A major milestone was recently achieved with the 1000th community trap being installed! Whether it’s a rat trap in a backyard or a possum trap in the middle of a bush remnant, each trap plays an important role in protecting our biodiversity.
A possum aversion fence has also been built at the neck of the Peninsula to minimise re-invasion from the city. Any areas that can’t be fenced, such as public roads, will have cameras to detect any possums and traps to catch any possums attempting to access the peninsula.