Enhancing wallaby control in Canterbury
If you own or lease land over 20 hectares, where wallabies are an issue, we want to hear from you.
We want to find out more about:
- Current practices: how you are controlling wallabies on your land.
- Challenges: what control measures work and what barriers do you face?
- Strategy: your level of support for the regional and national wallaby control strategy, and any opportunities for improvement.
The information you provide in the survey could help shape future wallaby control strategies.
Your information is held and administered by us under the Privacy Act 2020 and our privacy policy.
Bennett’s wallabies are a pest in Canterbury/Waitaha, and as the regional council, we are working with landowners to control them.
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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.
