Biosecurity risk for Northland after wallabies confirmed in region

A file shot of a Dama wallaby, similar to one found in Northland that has biosecuirty officials calling for public help.

A dead wallaby has been found on the side of the highway in Kawakawa but was fed to some dogs before it could be examined.

The discovery is one of two in Northland as a second dead wallaby was reportedly seen on a road south of the State Highway 1 Maungakaramea intersection a few days later.

The Northland Regional Council (NRC) received reports of a dead wallaby found near Kawakawa’s Three Bridges road on December 4.

Nicky Fitzgibbon, biosecurity manager - incursions and response for NRC, said a pair of council staff spoke with the man who made the discovery.

“Unfortunately by the time the report came through the animal had been fed to some dogs and there was no trace left of it.”

Based on evidence and speaking with members of the public who reported the wallaby, the NRC was confident the report was genuine and the animal was a wallaby.

Torrential rain on the day the wallaby had been picked up meant there was nothing to indicate the animal had been struck by a vehicle there.

“It’s possible the wallaby may have been killed elsewhere and fallen from a ute or other vehicle as it was driving in Northland,” Fitzgibbon said.

She explained credibility was added to that theory as council received a separate report about a dead wallaby south of the SH1/Maungakaramea intersection on December 11.

Cameras have been set up at two properties in the wider Kawakawa area as a precaution but Fitzgibbon said the terrain around the site where the wallaby had been found was not likely to be suitable for the animal.

While reports of wallabies in the region have happened before, the latest sightings have shocked biosecurity officials.

Earlier this year a wallaby indicator dog searched Waipoua Forest after a sighting of the kangaroo clan member. A six-week search, with support from the Ministry for Primary Industry’s Tipu Matoro/Wallaby Free Aotearoa, was undertaken and involved a 25-strong trail camera network. No wallabies were found.

In January this year, an investigation into a wallaby sighting in the Pukenui Forest found no signs of the marsupial despite a Whangārei man reportedly seeing sparring wallabies in the forest in October the previous year.

Wallabies are classified as an unwanted organism under New Zealand’s Biosecurity Act 1993 due to the significant damage they do to native bush, farms, crops, plantation forests, riparian plantings, biodiversity, and our economy. It is illegal to hold, move, or transport wallabies without specific authorisations.

They eat native and exotic seedlings and pasture which can make them costly to the farming and forestry sectors, as well as pose a risk to native bush.

Wallabies also breed and establish easily. The illegal release of a single pregnant female can quickly create a whole new population and threat to the local economy and environments.

They are formally classified as an ‘exclusion pest’ under the council’s Regional Pest Management Plan due to the serious environmental, economic, and other risks they pose.

Wallabies are found on Kawau Island, just south of NRC’s boundary, and large numbers are present in the Rotorua Lakes area and in North Otago and South Canterbury.

NRC has reported the incidents to Biosecurity New Zealand. Fitzgibbon appealed to the public for any information that might shed light on the matter, including from anyone who may have been transporting dead wallabies into Northland or who had seen a vehicle doing so.

The most common signs of their presence are their footprints or scat (poo).

All wallaby sightings should be reported online at www.reportwallabies.nz.