Enhancing wallaby control in Canterbury
Thank you to everyone who took the opportunity to have a say on wallaby control.
We wanted to hear from people who own or lease land over 20 hectares where wallabies are an issue so that we could learn more about landholder control practices, any challenges they face and their awareness of how we work under the national wallaby control programme.
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How wallaby control works
We joined the Biosecurity New Zealand (MPI) led Tipu Mātoro National Wallaby Eradication Programme in July 2020. The programme is a partnership that includes central and local government agencies, iwi, farmers, landholders and communities.
Our strategy is to contain wallabies within the Waitaki, Rangitata and Tekapo rivers in South Canterbury. Once containment is achieved, we aim to continue to reduce their range as we work toward an aspirational goal of eradication.
We also respond to sightings outside of containment to prevent populations establishing elsewhere and perform intensive control on the buffer of the containment area to reduce spread.
Landholders are the most important part of the system; they are responsible for maintaining low wallaby numbers on their properties. It’s been that way since 1992 when they voted to disband the South Canterbury Wallaby Board and opt for user pays control. It seemed like a good idea at the time as wallaby numbers were extremely low due to the success of the wallaby board. Unfortunately, it led to wallaby numbers and their range increasing.
Current operational priorities for the national programme are:
- STOP - Continue to control breeding populations outside the containment area to locally eradicate wallaby numbers.
- SEARCH - Search wider areas outside the containment area to ensure no unknown populations exist.
- SEAL - Intensive control within the containment area buffer or fringe areas to reduce continued wallaby spread.
Download the full wallaby strategy
Find out more about the work we do to protect Canterbury/Waitaha to control wallaby numbers.
