Animal pests are decimating native wildlife
Rats, cats, stoats, possums, rabbits and hedgehogs all have a detrimental effect on our wildlife.
They do this by predation – eating small birds, birds’ eggs, lizards, and insects. They also compete with our wildlife by eating their food – plants, insects and seeds.
Centennial Park Bush Society volunteers are trapping for possums and stoats, and laying rat poison to control rats and mice to very low levels.
We look after a network of bait stations
We manage a network of 250 secure bait stations throughout the park and in private land across Campbells Bay, funded and supported by Auckland Council and external grants. These bait stations are securely fixed and locked.
The program of baiting is to pulse the bait. This means each bait station is loaded in February, May, August and November. They are then checked and reloaded 1-2 times over the month and all bait is removed at the end of the month.
Currently we are using bromadialone rat poison. There is a very small risk that your cat or dog may eat a poisoned rat. In this case if your animal becomes unwell, your vet can supply an antidote. The chance of this is very small as most poisoned rats disappear to their nests to die. All local vets have been informed.
Our team manages 250 bait stations
We have a network of 100 bait stations in the reserve and 150 bait stations over 17 bait lines in private land outside the park – we call this the halo. All residents hosting a bait station sign a written consent.
What if my property does not have a bait station?
Our grid of bait stations is designed to cover most of the bay. If you have rats and your property is not on one of our bait lines we can offer you a free loan rat trap and protective cover or box, and rat bait at cost.
We trap for possums
We have a network of possum traps throughout the reserve managed in a pulse fashion with traps set for 4 months of the year. If you have possums contact us and we can assist with eliminating them.
We have a network of monitoring tunnels
We monitor predator levels with a network of 60 tunnels throughout the bay. Monitoring shows low levels of rats. This does not mean there are none. Low levels are the goal of this project
We can always use more volunteers as people move on or retire
We are regularly training new volunteers to manage our bait lines, traps or monitoring tunnels. If you would like to help out please email bushsoc@gmail.com
Birdlife in the bay is already benefiting from years of sustained predator control
Our regular bird counts show a steady increase in fantail/pīwakawaka and tui numbers.
Campbells Bay Urban Sanctuary 