Native birds get greater protection from stoats

Native birds including great spotted kiwis in the Nelson Lakes National Park will have greater protection from stoats now that self-setting traps are in the region, Conservation Minister Kate Wilkinson says.

The self-resetting traps were deployed in the area of the Rotoiti Nature Recovery Project by Ms Wilkinson and Green MP Eugenie Sage today.

“Great spotted kiwis have been successfully reintroduced to the area. To ensure their ability to breed without the young being killed by stoats, a protective network of traps must be set in the park,” Ms Wilkinson says.

“The traps will also help protect breeding populations of kaka, robin, bellbird and other native species that thrive at Lake Rotoiti.”

"These new traps - that have passed animal welfare standards - can kill up to 24 pests, and reset themselves each time by a gas-powered mechanism.”

This will allow for Department of Conservation staff to spend more time on other conservation work in the Rotoiti Nature Recovery Project instead of tending to the traps.

Ms Wilkinson announced the $4 million, three year trial to test self-resetting traps for pest control in October 2010. The project was part of a Memorandum of Understanding between the Government and the Green Party.