Nor'West News: February 03, 2022

Thursday February 3 2022 7
Penguin nesting sites decimated
• From page 1
“We just feel that if we don’t
do something then there won’t
be penguins in the harbour
anymore.”
Lucy got in contact with
Pohatu Penguins co-owner
Averil Parthonnaud and her
husband Kevin and she has
been helping them out where
she can.
“They’re the real heroes,”
said Butterfield.
In October 2020, a group of
community leaders and over
60 volunteers surveyed Banks
Peninsula to identify penguin
numbers, 20 years after the
first significant peninsula-wide
survey was performed.
The Horomaka Kororā
Survey was started in 2020
with the purpose being
to estimate the current
population size of little
penguins on Banks Peninsula.
Butterfield and Lucy helped
out when the survey resumed
at the end of last year.
“We found two quite large
nesting sites inside the Akaroa
Harbour that were just getting
decimated by stoats,” said
Butterfield.
Since then, he and Lucy have
set about 16 traps in the two
big nesting spots.
“Matt was installing BT200
traps in and around the sea
coves within the Akaroa
Harbour. The BT200 trap is a
humane kill-trap designed for
stoats,” said PFBP operations
manager Tim Sjoberg.
With his teenage sons Tom
and Charlie helping out,
Butterfield uses his boat to get
to the more difficult-to-reach
sea coves then he and Lucy
swim in.
“We’ve got a spare
fishing float, we hang on
the back of that and kick
ourselves in, one of my sons
will sit on the boat while
SUCCESS: Lucy
Butterfield checking traps
that have been set at
Akaroa Harbour.
we swim 20m to the shore,”
Butterfield said.
An estimated 68,000
native birds are killed in New
Zealand by introduced pests
every night, and 25 million
killed every year, PFBP website
states.
“It is the collective mahi,
like Matt’s [and Lucy’s], that
will really make a difference
for our taonga species,” PFBP
communications manager
Vanessa Mander said.
“We are buoyed by the
effort, passion and
commitment shown by our
community,” she said.
Anyone can help out,
whether that’s with backyard
trapping, volunteering with
local trapping group or
starting a trap line.
•If you’re a landowner
within the current pest
free Banks Peninsula
boundary (Okains
Bay to Duvauchelle),
you can ask PFBP for
more information on
pestfreebankspeninsula.
org.nz
50-70% off
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