Rod Dickson, Hawke's Bay Regional Council biosecurity adviser, believes the possum population has significantly reduced in urban areas. Photo/Supplied.
The Hawke's Bay Urban Biodiversity possum control programme run by the Hawke's Bay Regional Council has seen possum numbers significantly reduced in urban areas in the past nine years.
Hawke's Bay Regional Council biosecurity adviser, Rod Dickson, said possum control started on Napier Hill in 2009 and since then operations
have been carried out around Hastings, Taradale, Havelock North, Waipawa and Waipukurau.
"What's really exciting is that bird counts conducted on Napier Hill have shown a four-fold increase in tui and trebling of bellbird. The increase is likely to be attributed to the increase in available food."
Possums are a nuisance around domestic properties, eating garden plants and fruit trees and inhabiting sheds, chimneys and roof spaces.
Dickson said they were encouraging residents and local community groups to carry on control on their properties with possum bait subsidised by the regional council.
Department of Conservation Predator Free community manager, Jo Macpherson, said ordinary New Zealanders have always played an important role in volunteering their time to conservation activities.
