Zealandia staff find no sign of predators after hole cut in fence

The hole in the fence appeared to be cut with a power tool. Photo / Supplied

No signs of predators have been found inside Wellington's ecosanctuary Zealandia three weeks after a hole was deliberately cut in the fence.

Staff at the 225ha sanctuary leapt into action earlier this month when the hole was discovered by a jogger in the side of the predator exclusion fence in Karori.

Zealandia mounted a precautionary incursion response in case any predatory mammals did enter following the damage. This included setting trapping lines and cameras to identify intruders.

But as of this week, director of Zealandia's centre for people and nature Dr Danielle Shanahan said they'd spotted no sign of predators inside the sanctuary.

"The team have been working really hard on our incursion response ... and so far, touch wood, we've found nothing. So things are looking pretty good at this point," she said.

"The only thing we've caught so far is curious kiwi. So happily, so far, we've detected no unwanted, intruding mammals."

The incursion response will continue until they are confident no predators were able to get in, which Shanahan said would likely take a couple of months.

They will also bring in conservation dogs to see if they can sniff out any intruders.

While Zealandia staff were no closer to catching the culprit, Shanahan said there had been some rumours of holes being found in other fences in the area, outside of Zealandia.

"We do wonder if it was just someone who was up to a bit of mischief, but of course it's very difficult to speculate on something like that. We don't have any more information or evidence on what's occurred."

Police began investigating after the discovery of the hole, which appeared to have been cut with a power tool and was large enough to let in predators such as cats, rats and weasels.

At the time, Zealandia chief executive Paul Atkins said it was "extremely upsetting and disappointing" to see the fence targeted in such a way.

"It protects countless rare and threatened species, including kiwi pukupuku, hihi/stitchbird, tīeke/saddleback, titipounamu/rifleman, tuatara and more," he said.

"The sanctuary has played a huge role in improving birdlife across the city, and the specially designed fence is critical for giving these species a safe space to establish."

Zealandia was last year named one of Time magazine's World's 100 Greatest Places of 2019.

For 24 years, Zealandia has been working to restore a valley located just 2km from downtown Wellington, with the vision to restore its forest and freshwater ecosystems as closely as possible to their pre-human state.

Zealandia is a 225ha ecosanctuary that was fenced in 1999.

Since predators were eradicated, it has reintroduced 20 species of native wildlife back into the area, including six extinct on mainland New Zealand for over a century.