Council says wallaby may have had help to relocate

A regional council which spent two months and $40,000 searching for wallabies near Mōkau says the time and money could have been better spent.

In July, a landowner in the area found a female wallaby with a broken hind leg and a joey in her pouch, sparking an operation to understand the extent of the find.

However, surveillance by the Waikato Regional Council (WRC) showed it was unlikely a population of the pests had established itself and the wallaby found was likely relocated with human help.

‘‘We ended up spending about $40,000 and shifting resources to verify that there are no wallaby populations in the Mōkau area just because someone thought it would be a good idea to relocate one,’’ WRC senior biosecurity officer Dave Byers said.

‘‘That is time and money that could be better spent in controlling wallabies where they actually are.’’

Although wallabies are not found in Taranaki, they do exist in the central North Island, particularly in the Bay of Plenty, where they have been contained in the hope of eradicating them.

Wallabies are listed as an Unwanted Organism under the Biosecurity Act and it is illegal to have, hold, move or transport wallabies in New Zealand without a specific permit.

Byers leads the council’s wallaby control programme and said it was still responsible for investigating all reports in its region.

‘‘We had surveillance dogs cover an area of nearly 4000 hectares, and they walked a total of 453 kilometres over 11 days. From that, we got just one weak indication from a dog in the first couple of days.

‘‘Trail cameras were set up for about six weeks within 200 hectares or so where the wallaby was found and where we had the indication from the dog, but they came up with nothing.’’

The council would continue to undertake surveillance periodically in the Mōkau area just to be sure there were no signs of wallabies, Byers said.