North Shore Times (New Zealand)
Tiritiri pest e-raticated
A rat that sparked a panic on a pestfree island in Auckland’s Hauraki Gulf has been trapped and killed.
A routine check of tracking tunnels on the island, in Auckland’s Hauraki Gulf, revealed rat footprints on January 8.
The footprints were found on two of the monitoring cards inside the tunnels, showing a rat had been through them sometime in the period between New Year’s Eve and January 7, a Department of Conservation (DOC) statement said.
On Friday, DOC confirmed the rat had been caught in a trap and killed instantly. Its body was found at 6am.
The dead rat would be sent to Auckland for scientific analysis.
‘‘We’re thrilled to have caught this rat as it posed a serious threat to the native birds and other native wildlife on Tiritiri Matangi,’’ DOC’s acting Auckland inner islands operations manager John Galilee said.
Tiritiri Matangi is home to a number of native birds including takahe¯ , kiwi pukupuku/little spotted kiwi and ko¯ kako. There are also tuatara, we¯ ta¯ punga and five types of native lizard on the island.
Following the discovery of the rat footprints, two pest-detection dogs, Pai and Indie, were deployed to the island with their handlers. More than 50 additional traps and at least 60 extra tracking tunnels were also put in place.