New tools for the Predator Free 2050 effort
New tools being developed to help boost Aotearoa’s Predator Free 2050 effort have been unveiled by Minister of Conservation Eugenie Sage and Under Secretary for Regional Economic Development Fletcher Tabuteau.
A new target-specific rat poison, a new long-life predator lure, a camera with predator recognition software to detect and report predators, and a reporting and communications system will receive $1.7 million in funding from Predator Free 2050 Limited, backed by the Provincial Growth Fund.
The newly announced funding enables fast-tracking of research and development, registration, production and supply. Photo by DSD from Pexels
Boffa Miskell biosecurity consultants Dr Lee Shapiro and Dr Helen Blackie are involved with two of the four projects. A new toxin for rats, Norbormide, is being developed by Auckland-based company Invasive Pest Control, Boffa Miskell and the University of Auckland. Norbormide is highly toxic to rats, with low toxicity for other mammals or birds, but taste aversion has previously limited its efficacy, Dr Lee Shapiro says.
“Norbormide is a rat-selective toxicant so the risk is already low to non-target species. When you combine that with targeted delivery methods that further reduce the risk to non-target species you’re looking at one of the safest toxicants that’s possible”.
Dr Helen Blackie and Dr Lee Shapiro.
Boffa Miskell is developing, field testing and validating a low-cost, open-source, automated system for self- dispensing lures to rodents, mustelids and possums over long timeframes.
The AutoDispense Lure dispenses an egg-mayo mix at pre-determined times over long periods. “There’s been a big gap for a while, as we’ve been developing long-life tools,” says Dr Helen Blackie. “We have long-life detection systems that work for twelve months, but the problem is we haven’t had lures that are effective for that long.
“If we’ve got a lure system that operates for twelve months, the considerable expense involved in going and re- baiting those detection systems and traps disappears.”
All the funded control tools are designed to work together and enable the predators to be removed from large scale landscapes and then help defend these areas from reinvasion.
“These tools promise to supercharge the national predator free effort, helping ensure healthy forests and places for our special native plants and wildlife to flourish,” says Eugenie Sage. “They build on the innovative work by many ingenious New Zealanders who are tackling predators.
“They add to the methods currently available to give indigenous nature a helping hand by controlling pests and predators.
“We need a wide range of tools in the box – from cutting-edge camera sensors to new baits and lures; and we need to use all of them to reach the goal of Predator Free New Zealand by 2050.”
A first tranche of new generation tools was announced in November 2019. Long lure blocks developed by Dr Blackie received funding in that round.
The funding is designed to take promising new tools from development to production within three years.
