1000 dead pests - and Taupo pair want more

Photo / File

It all started on a winter's morning in 2007 when Dave 'Didymo Dave' Cade went fishing on the Hinemaiaia River south of Taupo.

He left his bag on the bank and began fishing his favourite pool. When daylight came, he stopped for a cuppa and a snack. But when he picked up his sandwich in keen anticipation of a feed, he discovered a great hunk of it missing.

A week later it happened again and this time, intrigued and more than a little annoyed at missing his breakfast, Dave realised the culprits were rats. He swore revenge.

"Right you little sucker, you're dead."

The next time he went fishing he took a trap. He got a rat, then another, then another. A week later, he got a weasel.

Dave began looking into the pest situation and was horrified to discover that although he had never seen any vermin on the stream, they were everywhere, and worse, they were preying on the birds.

"By this time my son ... and I were getting uncomfortable. We were asking ourselves 'what's going on?', and the more we trapped, the more we realised that the lovely little birds we enjoyed seeing while we were fishing were in danger. While we were snoring our heads off at night in a warm bed, these defenceless beautiful little birds and their chicks were being slaughtered."

So Dave and his son scrounged some recycled timber and old trap mechanisms, built themselves some box traps and began trapping pests in the Hinemaiaia River valley. Before long, they had 130 traps, and as the numbers of trapped vermin increased, the pair began to understand there was a major, albeit unseen, problem with vermin. They were catching rats, stoats and weasels, but seldom seeing them in daylight because they are mostly nocturnal.

February 17 this year was a milestone day for the pair's efforts, with the 1000th pest caught. Over the years they have caught 809 rats, 100 stoats and 91 weasels. What's more Dave says the effect on bird life has been dramatic, with more birds evident.

"It's now common to see North Island robins, tomtits, whiteheads throughout the valley as well as tui, bellbirds and kereru."

Dave says the catch rate over the years has remained unchanged, with usually one in every five traps holding a dead pest when checked every three weeks or so. While Dave says his and his son's efforts are only small compared to organised pest management groups such as the one at Pukawa at the other end of the lake, it's still proof that getting involved can make a difference.

"It doesn't matter how big it is, it wouldn't matter if we had only pulled 200 or 300 pests out, it's made a difference."

With 130 box traps in the Hinemaiaia, including 15 self-resetting traps, Dave is continuing the work. A thousand dead pests isn't anywhere near enough.

"If you take [the pests] out you create a vacuum and they pour in from outside, but we've obviously created enough of a gap for birds to breed."