Whanganui Chronicle
  • Whanganui Chronicle home
  • Latest news
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology

Locations

  • Taranaki
  • National Park
  • Whakapapa
  • Ohakune
  • Raetihi
  • Taihape
  • Marton
  • Feilding
  • Palmerston North

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • New Plymouth
  • Whanganui
  • Palmertson North
  • Levin

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Whanganui Chronicle

Conservation Comment: Wallaby woes

Whanganui Midweek
13 Jun, 2022 04:46 PM4 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Bennett's wallabies are found widely in the South Island. Photo / Getty Images

Bennett's wallabies are found widely in the South Island. Photo / Getty Images


Last November a group of four Whanganui cyclists biked the Alps to Ocean Trail from The Hermitage to Oamaru, covering a distance of about 320km.

This was an educational trip in more ways than one.

On day 1, we rode into wallaby country near Twizel. Signs ask riders to report sightings. Since wallabies are nocturnal, we didn't see any alive but I found one squashed on the lonely road to Aviemore Dam.

The Kurow museum contains a stuffed Bennett's wallaby. It stands 80cm high with a tail length of 62cm. The exhibit is cute, so I took a photo of fellow rider Esther Williams with it.

Bennett's or red-necked wallaby are found widely in South Canterbury, north of the Waitaki River, south of the Rangitata River and east of the Tekapo River.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

They have been found in North Otago, where animals have crossed over the Aviemore Dam, and in Ashley Forest north of Christchurch. They are most numerous in the Hunter Hills but are also found widely to the west and north.

Individuals have been sighted on Banks Peninsula, around the Rakaia River and near Lake Hawea, indicating that this species is extending its distribution naturally and through illegal liberations.

Males can reach over 20kg with females 14kg. The upper body is greyish-brown with a pale grey chest and belly, and reddish-brown on the shoulders. Their hind feet and tail are black-tipped.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Environment Canterbury and Otago Regional Council have a job to contain wallabies. They need community input; farmers, iwi and councils are involved.

A wallaby board used to be responsible for managing the marsupials; landowners were charged a specific wallaby rate.

But circumstances changed. The board was disbanded in the 1990s, and once calicivirus arrived to control rabbits, use of the 1080 poison that was used to kill them diminished.

Wallabies are classified as an unwanted organism, and possession of any live wallaby is an offence under the Biosecurity Act 1993 unless the landowner is exempt. Wallabies may be hunted all year round.

Wallabies have similar eating habits to possums. They:
· eat native and exotic seedlings, preventing regenerating native bush and damaging plantation forests;
· compete with livestock for pasture;
· reduce the forest understorey with possible impacts on water quality;
· damage tall tussock grasslands;
· destroy agricultural crops.

They also foul pasture and damage fences.

In the North Island, dama wallabies are a massive problem around the Rotorua lakes.

They occupy most of the area east of Rotorua west of Kawerau, spreading north to Pongakawa and south to the Paeroa Range. They occur on Mt Ngongotaha and into the Mamaku Range.

Dama wallabies are also found on Kawau Island. Governor George Grey brought five wallaby species there in 1870.

The dama stands up to half a metre tall. Adult females weigh around 5kg, while males can weigh up to 7kg. They are grey-brown with a paler grey underbelly. A thin white-silver stripe runs from under the eye to the nose. Mature animals may have a patch of reddish-brown at the shoulder.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Wallabies are wrecking forest ecosystems and increasing the risk of erosion. I wonder why an annual wallaby hunt is not organised, much like the bunny cull down south.

The Ministry for Primary Industries says, "lLeft unchecked, wallabies could spread across one-third of New Zealand over the next 50 years.

"They can't be bred, sold, moved or exhibited without a permit. They breed from a young age, so populations can build quickly if not effectively managed.

"They are a threat to our forest taonga as many native species are damaged by wallabies and not able to grow back over time. It's estimated that wallabies spread 0.8km in the North Island and 1.9km in the South Island every year.

"The economic impact of wallaby spread could reach $84 million a year by 2025."

In 2020, as part of the Jobs for Nature funding, $27m was allocated over a four-year period to control wallabies in NZ.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Any sightings outside wallabies' core distribution areas should be reported to the MPI Pests and Diseases Hotline 0800 80 99 66.

Margi Keys is the secretary of the Whanganui Museum Botanical Group, and volunteer at Gordon Park Scenic Reserve and Tarapuruhi/Bushy Park. She also convenes Green Drinks Whanganui.

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Whanganui Chronicle

Whanganui Chronicle

Heavy rain, cold snap hit as 'warm winter' begins

03 Jun 12:26 AM
Whanganui Chronicle

Memorial for doctor from Sri Lanka who served the Whanganui community

02 Jun 10:29 PM
Whanganui Chronicle

'Seriously stunning': New section of cycle trail nears completion

02 Jun 09:38 PM

‘No regrets’ for Rotorua Retiree

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Whanganui Chronicle

Heavy rain, cold snap hit as 'warm winter' begins

Heavy rain, cold snap hit as 'warm winter' begins

03 Jun 12:26 AM

A heavy rain warning has been issued for Tongariro National Park and Taranaki Maunga.

Memorial for doctor from Sri Lanka who served the Whanganui community

Memorial for doctor from Sri Lanka who served the Whanganui community

02 Jun 10:29 PM
'Seriously stunning': New section of cycle trail nears completion

'Seriously stunning': New section of cycle trail nears completion

02 Jun 09:38 PM
Taihape's late surge secures dramatic win

Taihape's late surge secures dramatic win

02 Jun 06:00 PM
Why Cambridge is the new home of future-focused design
sponsored

Why Cambridge is the new home of future-focused design

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Whanganui Chronicle e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Whanganui Chronicle
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • What the Actual
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven CarGuide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • NZME Events
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP