pests

Otanewainuku has many introduced pests to contend with: mustelids, feral cats, rats, mice, goats, deer, pigs, hedgehogs, possums and dogs. Some are featured below, or visit the DOC website for more information.

mustelids: stoats | ferrets | weasels

Introduced in the 1880s to control rodents and rabbits they have devastated our native fauna which evolved without predatory mammals, and no natural defences. They are the main reason for the dramatic decline of kiwi, blue duck, black stilt, weka and kakapo and others, and a major threat to skinks, lizards and weta.

stoats
The most common mustelid in NZ, they live wherever they can find food - sand dunes, farms, forests and the high country. Stoats have a long slender body, brown on the back with a creamy belly. About 40 cm long, they are agile climbers and can swim 1.5km. Stoats feed on birds, eggs, rats, lizards, insects, rabbits, freshwater crayfish and possums.

Stoats kill around 70% of all young kiwi. A study of 149 small bird nests showed that over a two-year period stoats robbed over half of the nests.

weasels
The weasel is the smallest mustelid in NZ, at around 20 cm long. They look similar to a stoat except that the tail is short and thin. It is found in low numbers mostly in farmland and scrub, and feeds upon small birds, eggs, mice, lizards and invertebrates.

ferrets
Ferrets mostly inhabit farmland and forests fringes, but in recent years have been found deep in forested areas. Larger than stoats at about 50 cm, creamy around the body and have long black tipped hairs. They don’t have the same level of climbing or swimming abilities as stoats and prey mainly on ground nesting birds, eggs, rats, invertebrate and rabbits.

Ferrets kill young kiwi and are responsible for many adult kiwi deaths. After dogs they are one of the highest predator of adult kiwi. Ferrets carry Bovine TB.

stoat
stoat

weasel
weasel

ferret
ferret

dogs

Kiwi have a strong musky scent which dogs find irresistible. As they have no wishbone or flight muscles, kiwi have an extremely fragile rib cage and are killed by even the gentlest of dogs. Sometimes hunting dogs are lost in the bush or other dogs roam from nearby properties.
Dogs are prohibited in Otanewainuku.

Leave dogs at home please - kiwi can sometime be found sleeping under the ferns beside a track, so they can even kill kiwi when on a leash.

Each year we run dog kiwi-aversion training for local dog owners. Contact us for more info.

no dogs
no dogs

possums

Possums were introduced to New Zealand from Australia in 1837 in an attempt to begin a fur trade and have decimated NZ wildlife and bush since. Possums are nocturnal, carriers of bovine TB and eat bark, leaves, buds and flowers,fruits, ferns, fungi, invertebrates, native birds and eggs, land snails and carrion.

possums
possums

rats

There are three species of rat in NZ, the ship rat, the Norway (or water rat) and the kiore, all of which were introduced. Nesting birds and their chicks are vulnerable to rat attacks and our pest control programme is timed for winter and spring, so that rat numbers are reduced to a level that allows our birds to nest and safely fledge their chicks.

Learn more about rats

rats
rats

feral cats

Feral cats decimate our native bird population. Sometimes people drop unwanted kittens and other pets on the side of the road or in the bush with devastating consequences.

Take unwanted pets to the RSPCA.

feral cat
feral cat