Picton predator-free group targets less than 5 per cent pests by 2020

A Picton group that pre-empted the Government's predator-free push by 12 months plans to create a line of defence surrounding the entire town.

Volunteer group Picton Dawn Chorus has already started setting 150 traps, or a trap every 100 metres, on public walkways in the town's Victoria Domain to kill rats, stoats and possums.

The next step is to set more than 700 traps in private gardens and outlying coastal and bush areas, eventually covering an expected 2000 hectares.

This week, the group and eight children from Picton Kindergarten checked and laid more baited traps in the public reserve. 

READ MORE:
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* Picton wants to become New Zealand's first predator-free town
* Free predator trapping workshop in Picton
* Plans for pest traps in 400 backyards in Picton

The group, formed a year ago to increase the native bird population in the town, will have no shortage of motivation to complete the project by their goal of 2020.

"There's plenty of rats out there," group chairman James Wilson said.

A pre-trap survey showed 60 per cent of 'chew cards' left for monitoring had been eaten by predators in the area, he said.

The group hoped to join major metropolitan pest-free communities such as Alberta, Canada and Budapest, Hungary by effectively creating rat-free zones.

The target for Picton Dawn Chorus was to achieve less than 5 per cent of predators, similar to Alberta and Budapest, in the township.

The increase in the number of birds, not the number of rats trapped, would indicate the real long-term effectiveness of the project, Wilson said.

"Once all the traps are set we will be able to get the number of predators down to a minimal level."

Department of Conservation threatened species ambassador Nicola Toki said the Picton project fitted alongside the Predator Free 2050 programme announced by the Government in July.

Toki said the Picton project had pre-empted the national $28 million joint venture project by 12 months.

"The predator-free programme can only work well in a community such as Picton where a cumulative effort by every resident can show how easy it is to achieve the reality of a predator-free environment," she said.

Eventually groups with similar predator-free projects to Picton Dawn Chorus would be able to link up with neighbouring communities to provide a greater area of pest control.

Picton Dawn Chorus had received $18,000 in funding from the Marlborough District Council and would sell traps to residents for $20.