Three possums down…

New pest traps have been set in the Pongaroa Village bush walk, and within 24 hours had registered their first catch.

Led by Owahanga Catchment Group leader, Mark Wheeler, and ably assisted by Pongaroa School students as part of their Enviroschools programme, the traps were installed in the bush walk on Monday. Mark has also installed auto traps at 4 Mile Bush.

We want to give a big shout out to Tararua District Council (TDC), who owns both the village bush and 4 Mile Bush, for their generous donation of the traps to help maintain and enhance their asset. TDC supplied six NZ auto trap AT 220 units to cover their reserves, and we are already seeing the results, with three possums and one rat already dispatched in less than a week.

The catchment group, along with the Enviroschools students, had already put out chew cards in both bush reserves as part of the wider pest monitoring programme, recording high numbers of possums in both bush areas, so these traps are a great addition to our pest management work.