A six-fold explosion in rat activity in the Catlins is one
reason the Department of Conservation will boost pest control
measures in the lower South Island.
The department will spend $500,000 in the coming year on rat
control in Hawdon Valley, Dart Valley, Eglington Valley and
the Catlins, south Otago, where recent monitoring showed rat
activity was six times above normal levels.
Native bat and bird species, particularly the yellowhead and
orange-fronted parakeets, were suffering from increased rat
numbers, spokesman Richard Suggate told Radio New Zealand.
"If we don't intervene we may actually lose those populations
completely from some of those valleys," he says.
Rat control work will start in the Dart Valley later this
month.
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