Philippa Stevenson: Kiwi's call hails a victory over the bush pests

The residents of Pukawa Bay at the southern end of Lake Taupo think they have heard that rarest of things - the night-time call of a kiwi.

Nobody dares believe it's true, but if kiwi have returned to the bush-clad hills around Pukawa, the residents will have only themselves to thank.

Just under a year ago, a small group of permanent residents, supported by the rest of the around 200 homeowners, mostly with holiday places at Pukawa, began doing battle with pests.

Their success is a shining example of get-up-and-go.

The group has a fairly grand name - the Pukawa Wildlife Management Group - but it has a core of five enthusiasts who have masterminded a plan to regenerate native bush and restore the dawn chorus.

They are retired school teachers Mavis and Alby Shaw, retired farmers Jean and Russell Stanley, semi-retired ski instructors Ali Shannon and John Ball, and historian and retired university lecturer Hazel Riseborough.

From time to time they "induct" others for their skills. One is retired police officer Derek Webb, who helps with "legal bits".

And they always happily accept help with the legwork of setting and emptying traps, or discussing what to do next over Mavis Shaw's beaut morning teas.

There are no wilting lilies or reluctant rat catchers among the group who, as of last week, had notched up a kill tally of 254 rats, 58 possums, nine hedgehogs, five stoats, four mice, three weasels - and one rabbit, which strayed into a possum trap.

There may still be some doubt that kiwi have found it safe to return to the settlement between Tokaanu and Kuratau, but everybody's sure the area now has more birds of other kinds.

Hazel Riseborough hopes the group's success will spread all around Lake Taupo.

And it has started - fledgling pest control groups have formed at neighbouring Omori and Kuratau.

It all began last spring with a meeting of seven people. Cam Speedy, then of the Department of Conservation, drew up a wildlife management plan, and since then the group has had great support from other staff at DoC and Environment Waikato.

As well as learning about various traps, bait and bait stations, they can now tell their stoats from their weasels.

Apparently, both animals have a line along their side but on stoats it's "stoatly straight and on weasels its wavy".

Some of the traps can be a bit nippy on the fingers, and the women tend to have to cart rat and trap down the hill for the men to empty and re-set.

Jean Stanley invented a natty device involving ice-cream containers so several set traps can be carried at once.

But new "thumper" traps, which can be set to trap rats at both ends with an easy pull on two ropes, should make life, and death, a lot easier. They're a bit lethal, all right. The first one nearly put an end to Mavis Shaw's wooden spoon when she did a bit of experimental poking.

It can be an expensive business, too. Holiday homeowners, mostly through the Pukawa Property Owners Association, have helped with donations.

The Transpower Landcare Trust gave a $1000 grant, and a local pub charity, Huckleberry's Sports and Charitable Trust, stumped up a requested $941.

"DoC does what it can but it's a big area and they have a small budget," says Hazel Riseborough. "If people like us work with them it can make a difference."

Vive la difference!

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