Celebrating successful predator control

Professor Carolyn King, pictured here with a research ferret, will be speaking at an event for Otanewainuku Kiwi Trust on June 28. Photo: Otanewainuku Kiwi Trust/Facebook.

The Otanewainuku Kiwi Trust is celebrating 15 years of successful predator control this month.

Their achievements include the restoration of the 1200 hectare Otanewainuku forest in the Bay of Plenty, which now hosts a breeding population of North Island brown kiwi, as well as kokako.

Predator control expert Professor Carolyn King from the University of Waikato will be the guest speaker at a special event hosted by the Otanewainuku Kiwi Trust in Tauranga on Wednesday June 28.

Carolyn has studied introduced predators and their management and written several books, including The Drama of Conservation. She researches the ecology of small rodents and mustelids, especially stoats and weasels.

University of Waikato staff member and trust volunteer Kiri Diamond says Wednesday's event will let the public know what the trust has done over the past year, and what the plans are for next year.

'Carolyn will talk for around an hour, and there will be a supper afterwards for people to mix and mingle and have some discussions with Carolyn.

'Prior to this she will be meeting with the operations team to go over their proposed strategy for the coming year. It will be an informed outsider's view.”

Kiri says the trust has gone from a little community group to a big organisation, with more than 500 people wanting to volunteer now.

'For the university, it's about engaging with the community. We have expertise within the university we can share with community groups like this. We know this will appeal to more than just trust volunteers. If anything, we're a bit concerned we won't have enough seats!”

The event is on Wednesday June 28 at 6.30pm in H110 (next to the Atrium) at Toi Ohomai's Windermere Campus, located at 70 Windermere Drive, Tauranga.

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1 comment

Don't mention the

Posted on 23-06-2017 13:29 | By Papamoaner

Not many are game to say it out loud these days, but 1080 is doing a great job in many places too. Hopefully soon, we will no longer need it.


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