17 October 2017

Media Release

More communities taking fight to predators

Fourteen more communities have joined Kiwibank and Predator Free New Zealand Trust in the fight to protect New Zealand’s precious native wildlife.

The Kiwibank Predator Free Communities initiative sees selected communities receive subsidised humane trapping equipment and support to set up community backyard trapping programmes. PFNZ provides help, advice and access to best-practice methods.

The 14 new additions mean there are now 24 organised, motivated and well-equipped groups taking the fight to predators in communities in all parts of New Zealand, from town and city suburbs and rural fringes to isolated settlements and beach retreats.

Kiwibank’s Regan Savage says ridding New Zealand of predators is the country’s biggest conservation battle.

“We’ve got the highest rate of threatened native species in the world. That’s solely down to the devastating impact of predators, so this is a battle we can, and must, win. The way we’ll do that is by getting more people involved at the community level to help out on the frontline.

“Kiwibank’s nationwide reach means we can help give these communities the support, knowledge and equipment they need to wipe out predators, quite literally, in their own backyards and make them predator-free.

“Having 14 more communities up and running alongside the 10 that were established last year means we’re making a huge difference.”

The long-term goal of the initiative is to put a trap in every fifth backyard in towns, suburbs and neighbourhoods and make entire communities predator-free.

“It’s an ambitious goal but, with every community that joins the campaign, it’s becoming more and more achievable,” says PFNZ’s Jessi Morgan. “Whole communities are already seeing the benefits, with native species returning and the dawn chorus in full voice again.”

2017 Kiwibank Predator Free Communities:

Acacia Bay, Taupo
Kuaotuna Village, Coromandel
Little Bay, Coromandel
Mt Cook and Newtown, Wellington
Omaha Beach, Auckland
Newlands, Paparangi and Woodridge, Wellington
Palm Beach, Waiheke Island
Ponsonby, Auckland
Rarangi, Marlborough
Russell, Bay of Islands
Waikanae Beach, Kapiti Coast

ENDS

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