West Coast wasps the new target
The West Coast has joined the Wasp Wipeout conservation project to rid the region of a ‘‘ferocious’’ wasp population.
Wasp Wipeout began as a pilot project in the Nelson region in 2016, supported by the Nelson Mail and Stuff as well as the Department of Conservation, local conservation groups, businesses, scientists and members of the community. Last year it was expanded to include parts of the Coromandel, Canterbury and the Marlborough Sounds.
DOC Greymouth senior biodiversity ranger Darrell Haworth said the West Coast had a lot of problems with wasps.
‘‘From a recreational point of view, one area that stands out where we have issues every year is Nelson Creek campground and walkway,’’ he said.
‘‘We’ve got staff in there doing weed bar work. Quite often they might stab a nest, and they get hammered.’’
‘‘Campers, kids, people swimming in the river – last year a kid got stung in the river swimming,’’ Haworth said.
‘‘They are really really bad out there. It’s only a matter of time before someone has a serious allergic reaction.’’
Maruia School at Springs Junction had to stop using a nearby track because of a wasp infestation. ‘‘It’s about a 10-minute walk and we found 25 nests. The wasp population was ferocious,’’ Haworth said.
DOC has joined up with Conservation Volunteers New Zealand to target specific areas of the West Coast.
Haworth is also encouraging people to set up their own bait stations using Vespex bait, which does not attract bees or birds and can be kept in the freezer for about nine years.
‘‘If you can get three or four of you, or the whole street, and put baits in everyone’s property, you can target a wider area. Wasps can travel up to five kilometres, and they take it back to the nest.’’
He said DOC staff were at such a high risk of being stung that they had to carry vials of adrenalin and syringes.
Haworth said he had been stung up to 10 times at once. On the second occasion he was stung, he had an allergic reaction resulting in his whole arm swelling up.
He said it was possible for wasps to kill livestock and bees, but the bigger risk was to native birds and bats. Not only do wasps kill birds and bats, they eat the insects needed for the endangered species’ survival.
There are threatened native long-tailed bats at the Marble Hill campground near Springs Junction. ‘‘We have a lot of problems (with wasps) up there,’’ Haworth said.