Annual Report 2024
The highlight of the Predator Free Dunedin Trust’s year has undoubtedly been the enormous progress towards elimination of possums in Sectors 1-4 on the Otago Peninsula. This is thanks to the dedication of volunteers, landowners, and members of the wider community who have been working alongside the Otago Peninsula Biodiversity Group.
The benefits of having a collaborative model were demonstrated this year, with additional skills being provided on the Peninsula by the Halo Project and City Sanctuary teams in the final push to eliminate the last few possums.
The full toolbox of Predator Free Dunedin tools was required to achieve this outcome including the use of scat detection dogs, drone thermal detection paired with hunting, and statistical analysis tools.
From October 2024, responsibility for completing the Peninsula possum elimination reverted to Predator Free Dunedin, with ongoing detection systems in place to ensure that any possums detected can be responded to immediately.
It is predicted that the final work will be completed in June this year.
At a national level, funding is still an ongoing issue and the number of projects to receive ongoing funding from Predator Free 2050 has been reduced to five.
Fortunately, Predator Free Dunedin is one of these five projects, having received additional funding to develop new tools for mustelid elimination and quantifying the costs associated with that. This enables the work currently being undertaken to be continued through to 2026/2027, and for the results of that work to be shared with other projects throughout the country.
Nevertheless, to retain the gains already made and to continue the eradication work needed to bring back our dawn chorus, Predator Free Dunedin is reviewing its overall strategy and revising its goals to best use current resources. As a priority we are looking to develop alternative sources of income from those we currently have, to ensure that we can continue to achieve the biodiversity goals of the Trust. We welcome any novel suggestions for funding streams and collaboration which the broader Predator Free Dunedin community may have.
Sally Peart - Chair, Predator Free Dunedin
