Hole cut in Zealandia’s predator exclusion fence

Police were notified after a hole was deliberately drilled in a fence at the Wellington Native Animal Sanctuary, Zealandia.

The hole in the predator exclusion fence appears to have been cut with a power tool and is large enough to admit rats and weasels.

A member of the local community found the hole yesterday.

“It is extremely annoying and disappointing to see someone aim at the fence in this way. It protects countless rare and threatened species, including pukupuku kiwi, hihi / stitchbird, tīeke / saddleback, titipounamu / rifleman, tuatara and more.” Zealandia CEO Paul Atkins said.

“The sanctuary has played a very important role in improving the birdlife throughout the city, and the specially designed fence is critical to giving these species a safe space to settle.”

The hole, which is about 15 cm high by 10 cm wide, is large enough to allow access by rats, mustelids or other predators of native New Zealand species, many of which are just beginning their breeding season.

“At this point, we cannot determine exactly when the damage occurred. We do very frequent close-ups, so it was probably over the weekend,” said Dr. Danielle Shanahan, director of Zealandia’s center for people and nature. .

Zealandia is now mounting a pre-emptive raid response in case any predatory mammals entered after the damage. This includes establishing capture lines and cameras to identify intruders.

“The Zealandia fence line is a popular walking trail, and we are asking the Wellington public to report any vandalism they witness to the police. There is also a phone number to report damage at many locations along the fence line “.

Zealandia is now considering additional security measures that can be installed, such as CCTV to prevent future damage.

Zealandia was named one of the World’s 100 Best Places of 2019 by Time magazine last year.

For 24 years, Zealandia has been working to restore a valley located just 2km from central Wellington, with a vision of restoring its forests and freshwater ecosystems as close to their pre-human state as possible.

Zealandia is a 225ha ecological sanctuary that was fenced off in 1999.

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