Newsroom coverage of an ambitious bid to rid Auckland Island of pigs, cats and mice has inspired a reader to stump up $100k for the project
A conservation project aimed at ridding New Zealand’s largest subantarctic island of mammalian pests that have ravaged its landscape and seabirds has received another surprise $100,000 donation.
The secret donor contacted the Department of Conservation earlier this month after reading a Newsroom article about the Maukahuka Pest Free Auckland Island project.
The gift adds to an earlier $100,000 donation sparked by a Listener article about eradication work on the island.
The latest donor says he was motivated by a wish “to see Auckland Island’s native species recover and the subantarctic island returned to its pre-European condition”.
His interest in pest eradication goes back to the 1970s when he was working at the Forest and Range Experimental Station in Rangiora.
“There used to be symposia on possum eradication and the control of deer, chamois and tahr.
“Scientists mostly would present talks on their work and there was brainstorming afterwards, which was a good example of how theories should be dealt with,” he says.
The donor says he enjoys the wildlife recovery aspects of what the Maukahuka Pest Free Auckland Island project will achieve and he wants to be part of making the project happen.
Caught up in Covid
The joint DoC and Ngāi Tahu project, the goal of which is to rid the island of its feral pigs, cats, and mice, was paused two years ago when Covid struck bringing with it an unfavourable fundraising climate.
Expected to take a decade and cost in the region of $84 million, it requires both government and philanthropic funding. If successful, the project will be the largest and most complex island pest eradication undertaken in the world.
DoC national eradication team manager Stephen Horn says the $100,000 gifts are an “extraordinary” sum and his team is grateful to both donors.
“The engagement with the two donors has been really nice.
“They are super supportive and are excited to be making a contribution to something they care about, so it’s nice to be able to talk them through the affect the funding will have,” says Horn.
Horn’s team, who are responsible for pest eradication on New Zealand’s uninhabited offshore islands, has continued to develop and test eradication tools and do logistics planning so it is ready for the project’s resumption.
It is working on a toxic bait for feral cats and is in the process of importing poison pig bait for trials needed to get approval for New Zealand use.
The baits could prove a game-changer for pig and cat eradication projects, not just on Auckland Island but nationally.
Horn says it’s encouraging that people in the community are willing to back DoC’s biosecurity efforts with large cash donations.
“It has been really encouraging and inspiring that people will give their hard-earned money … and trust that it will have a big impact,” says Horn.
“There is a lot of passion there. The first donor has been lucky enough to have been to the subantarctic islands and you can see that obviously had an impact on their perspective,” says Horn.
“Every year people contact us saying, ‘Hey, we would like to see this project happening,’ but to have people reach into their pockets like this and take action is powerful and motivating.”
Possible project involvement
Horn will keep both donors up-to-date on progress and if practical he will see if there are opportunities for them to be involved with the project.
A member of Horn’s team has created limited-edition tea towels for the donors that have photographs and a map of Auckland Island.
As well as helping fund bait development and testing, the donor funding will go towards meeting technical and infrastructure needs.
This includes working out how to store large volumes of fuel for helicopters on a World Heritage site where permanent structures are not allowed, says Horn.
In conjunction with another DoC team, Horn’s group is testing a flat-pack field hut.
The funding will also be used to develop a helicopter bucket that will allow bait to be spread at a lower flow rate than used in other aerial eradications. Bait release will be synchronised with the helicopter’s ground speed, says Horn.
Building human capability and expertise is also something the donor funding will be used for.
“We are looking at testing thermal tools for aerial pig hunting so we want to be able to draw on a pool of people with those skills as well as make sure that the tool is effective,” he says.
While they await approval to import the toxic pig bait, they are working out the best site for a bait ground trial.
They have placed automatic feeders at two Southland locations to get feral pigs used to eating a non-toxic version of the bait and to test if the pig population is large enough at one of the sites to run the toxic-bait trial.
* Made with the support of the Public Interest Journalism Fund
