Reserve fence hit by pests

RICHARD WOODD/Taranaki Daily News

A hydraulic ram smashed by hoons forcing open the Lake Rotokare gates with a car and towrope.

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Vandals have wrecked a sophisticated security gate system less than a month after it was installed in the $2 million pest free fence at Eltham's Lake Rotokare reserve.

A carload of hoons got trapped between the two security gates at the entrance on Boxing Day. They forced open a set of double hydraulic gates with a rope tied to their car, smashing two electrically-operated rams.

They could have read the advisory sign and pushed a button to open the gates, which were probably jammed by a tiny stone chip.

It will cost at least $3500 to repair the hydraulic rams and mountings, says Rotokare Trust project manager Kara Prankerd.

"We can keep the pest animals out but not the pest humans, it seems," she said.

The gate damage has compromised the reserve's bio-security status. It could take two weeks to repair the damage and test the operating system. In the meantime, the reserve is being kept open for public use in daylight hours by a team of volunteers manning the damaged gates, which are now tied open from 8am and will be padlocked at 8.30pm nightly.

People picnicking and boating at the lake saw "a little red car" speeding and skidding inside the reserve but nobody recorded the registration number.

Ms Prankerd said the next car to leave at about 6.30pm was unable to open the internal security gate. It had been rendered inoperable by the damage to the external gate. They phoned for help and a trust member arrived to open the gate.

"What we think happened is these hoons could not get the top gate open because it may have been jammed by a stone chip from the new chip sealing there."

She said the police had examined the scene.

Site manager Simon Collins says the clearance under the gates is only 7mm, which is enough to stop a baby mouse getting under. If any gate can't close fully, neither set will operate unless a button is activated.

"Human strength would not be enough to open the gates. It would have taken a car and rope and that's what we assume has happened because there's no evidence of anything else. I only started here three weeks ago and it's extremely upsetting to have this happen."

Ms Prankerd said: "Instead of reading the instructions about how to open the gates, we believe they decided to force them open with a tow rope, which smashed both hydraulic rams.

"Just getting the parts here will cost $3500. We don't know what the installation work will cost. We're insured but the excess is so high it may not be worth a claim. We're a charitable trust, we depend on donations and this is a big cost for us.

"We'd like the reserve users to take collective responsibility for what happens there. Don't be afraid to take a registration plate or call the police with a description. We don't want anything like this to happen again and we don't want to restrict public access to the reserve.

"Since the reserve opened on December 1, we've had hundreds of people going in and out, and the gates have only been jammed by stone chips once or twice before. That's why we have the advisory sign, explaining which button to push."

The 230ha reserve near Eltham is being developed into a predator-free "mainland island" surrounded by an 8.4km, $2 million pest fence. The reserve is home to kiwi and the endangered brown teal, or pateke.

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