Pest animals are taking a beating inside Dunedin's reserves, with contractors trapping, poisoning and shooting more than 200 rabbits, possums and goats since July.
Dunedin City Council parks and reserves team leader Martin Thompson said 86 possums had been caught and killed in lines of traps positioned in the city's Town Belt regularly since July 1.
Night shooting operations had accounted for another 121 rabbits and hares across various council-owned reserves in the same period, as well as nine goats, found mainly in the Mt Cargill reserve, he said.
About 70% of bait stations spread in the Town Belt to target rodents had also been used, he said.
The number of possums caught in the Town Belt was considered particularly good, and was expected to grow between December and March when numbers were highest, he said.
Possums were targeted because of the damage they could cause to tree canopies, he said.
"They will also take out native seedlings and stunt growth and can even kill certain trees just by browsing on them.
"There are obviously possums moving in and around [the area]. That's quite a good take. We're happy with it, anyway," Mr Thompson said.
The council had been carrying out pest control work for at least 12 years, but had become more "proactive" in the last four or five years, he said.
Monitoring since 2004 had shown some council reserves were "not that healthy", due to damage from possums and goats, he said.
As well as night shooting operations and trapping, the council used feretox - a form of cyanide - to poison pests in larger and less accessible reserves, he said.
"It's pretty much instant death, basically."
Since 2003, council contractors had removed about 600 goats from the Mt Cargill reserve, helping protect the lower levels of native bush in the area from the "quite damaging" animals, he said.
"That's big numbers. That's got to be [making] a dent," he said.
