Wallabies on ORC extermination list
Council sets goals in new pest plan
ERADICATING wallabies from Otago in 10 years is one of several goals in the Otago Regional Council’s new pest plan.
The council this week agreed to notify its Otago Regional Pest Management Plan and also adopt minor changes to it and the accompanying biosecurity strategy.
Bennett’s wallaby, rooks and spiny broom are targeted for extermination from the region within the plan.
At a council meeting this week Cr Gretchen Robertson said it was not a lighthearted commitment.
‘‘That means we really have to do it.’’
The council received 360 submissions, which was a lot more than other regions.
The plan represented the council stepping up and ‘‘putting our money where our mouth is’’.
Cr Andrew Noone said concerns from public submissions included fears about what would happen once Ospri finished its possum control programme in Dunedin and the management of rabbits.
Cr Michael Laws voted against adopting the changes to the plan and notifying it, saying it was an unwritten convention councils should not make major decisions at the end of the term.
The council’s biodiversity spending rose this year to $3,761,000 from $1,801,000 last year.
Ernslaw One Ltd OtagoSouthland regional manager Phil De La Mare said with sightings of wallabies in Maniototo, the Naseby Forest operator ‘‘fully supported’’ the council’s plan.
Wallabies had never been found in the forest, as had been suggested recently.
However, he was concerned about the potential spread, because of the devastating effect the animals could have on forestry.
Included in the plan are ‘‘good neighbour rules’’ requiring rural land users, including local and central government, to control certain pest plants, such as broom, gorse and animal pests such as rabbits from spreading to neighbouring properties.
Those who failed to adequately control the spread of pests could be prosecuted under the Biosecurity Act.
New pests on the list include feral cats, goats, deer and pigs as well as hedgehogs, possums, ferrets, weasels, stoats and rats.
Those pests would be managed through three siteled programmes in Dunedin.
The areas were around the Orokonui Ecosanctuary at Mt Cargill and West Harbour, on the Otago Peninsula, and on Quarantine and Goat Islands in the Otago Harbour.
The plan will be notified from October 1, after which submitters can make appeals to the environment court.