Goodnature traps welcomes vision of a pest-free Wellington

Stu Barr, Founder and Director of Goodnature: “Incredible vision and commitment from WCC, GWRC and the Next Foundation has been shown in taking this world-leading step to make our Capital city pest free. Wellingtonians are the kind of people which will ensure it is a success. It sends a message to our country and to the world that we can eradicate pest species not just on islands, but in our cities and parks too. We can bring back endangered native bird species to levels where they flourish and can be appreciated right in the heart of an urban environment. It’s awesome, this is achievable and it’s happening right now.

“At Goodnature we firmly believe that New Zealand can one day be pest free and that was one of our motivations for establishing our company back in 2005. We are conservationists who are also designers and our mission has always been to use our skills to create pragmatic solutions for halting and reversing biodiversity decline.

“Eight or nine years ago we used to draw lines across the Wellington Peninsula and speculate how we would remove all the pests, from mice up to goats, but we weren’t sure it would happen in our lifetime. Now with inspirational community leaders like Kelvin Hastie and the support of NEXT foundation, WCC and GWRC, it looks like we’ll get to share in this with our children and grandchildren.

“When Zealandia was created, it was the world’s first fully-fenced urban ecoscanctury. From the breeding that has taken place at Zealandia, kaka are now a common sight across much of Wellington. Birds like tieke (saddleback) and hihi (stichbird), which you were once lucky to see on offshore island reserves, are now found in growing numbers in our Capital parks, hugely enriching the environment. Wellingtonians have really got on board with the conservation vision and I am proud of how we work as a city to eradicate pests. Hundreds of our traps are already in use in gardens and parks across Wellington.”

Examples of initiatives using Goodnature traps across Wellington include:
· Forest & Bird’s Places for Penguins project uses Goodnature traps to control pests around Wellington’s Miramar Peninsula to give little penguins a fighting chance of survival

· WCC are working with Goodnature, GWRC and private land owners to extend the predator protection around Zealandia in 63 hectares of rural land

· WCC and GWRC already use rat and possum traps in a number of parks around Wellington to control pests

· Polhill Protectors, a community initiative to bring back tieke, hihi, kaka, tui, kakariki (parakeet), toutouwai (North Island robin) and pōpokotea (whitehead) to Polhill Reserve, minutes’ walk from downtown Wellington, uses Goodnature traps

· Hundreds of families have Goodnature traps in their gardens

Goodnature’s self-resetting traps were developed in partnership with the Department of Conservation (DOC) and are one of DOC’s preferred pest eradication tools. They have been proven to reduce, then maintain, low populations of predators – rats, stoats and possums – which allows native bird populations to grow and flourish. Goodnature traps have been proven in DOC science trials and a recent study has shown Goodnature’s self-resetting A24 traps to be 20 times more effective than single action traps. Goodnature partnered with DOC to use self-resetting traps as the sole tool to successfully eradicate rats from Native Island in Fiordland.

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