New Zealand is on a mission to save its birds in the area of Wellington by getting rid of rats. Wildlife lovers in Miramar gather donning hi-vis jackets to bait for rodents- and poison, BBC reported.
Each volunteer is assigned a patch where they will check coil traps and toxin-laced bait boxed, the media outlet said.
Dan Coup leads the group. Mr Coup uses a GPS app to guide him through the bush and every time a rat is caught, he updates the information on the app. He also surveys the ground for droppings and other clues.
Eradicating rats and other predators is the goal not just for Miramar but for all of New Zealand. The government expects the task to be completed by 2050.
New Zealand split from its ancient supercontinent 85 million years ago, long before the ascent of mammals. The country was the last major landmass settled by humans. In the 13th century, Polynesians brought mice and Pacific rats. Six centuries later, Europeans introduced larger mammals that feasted on defenceless birds. Almost a third of native species have been wiped out since human settlement, BBC News reported.
"It bubbled up and became a national totem," says James Russell, an Auckland University biologist and champion of the 2050 project.
Predator Free 2050 Ltd, a public body, was set up to channel government and private money into local projects to test eradication strategies.
The most ambitious of them is Predator Free Wellington. In a city of 200,000 people, it aims to kill off a range of pests, notably rats which thrive in urban environments. The project's 36-strong team has turned amateur rat catchers into proper exterminators.
If a rat is found dead, then it is sent to the lab for an autopsy. This is crucial because anticoagulants, by design, kill slowly. Rats are intelligent social animals and learn to avoid things that obviously harm them, the media outlet said.
