February 2025

Retired farmer, Dick Simmers, has been a volunteer legend for City Sanctuary since 2022. Dick has a wealth of field volunteering experience from far and wide. He’s worked in wildlife parks in South Africa, done trapping in Fiordland national park, cut tracks in the Silverpeaks and he’s even made an enclosure for Sirocco the kākāpō! […]

We love hearing great stories from our backyard trappers! Lloyd Cron is one of City Sanctuary’s newest backyard trappers who is providing us with help at Halfway Bush. We asked Lloyd to share what got him interested in backyard trapping.  Lloyd writes: “We purchased our 8 acres of native bush in 2002, cleared a space […]

There wasn’t even a hint of cattiness at the first Winter series talk “On the topic of cats” hosted by Predator Free Dunedin in early July. On the contrary, in this fascinating talk Predator Free New Zealand, the SPCA, Veterinarians for Animal Welfare New Zealand and the DCC were united with the discussion about ways […]

We love it when university students join City Sanctuary and get stuck in volunteering! University of Otago Students from Salmond, Knox and Aquinas College manage their own trap lines close by to the Colleges. Luka and Andrea from Salmond College recently shared their motivations for volunteering with us.   Luka, who is originally from Auckland, had […]

City Sanctuary resident, Hannah, was excited to move to a property with a lovely apple tree and vege garden but she quickly discovered she wasn’t the only one excited about the produce in her garden! Hannah discovered that a possum had taken a liking to what was on offer. We asked Hannah how she caught […]

Have you been wondering what to do with your backyard trap catches since the switch to the new DCC bin system?   The most eco-friendly option available is to bury catches in your yard, which will reduce waste and add some great nutrients to your soil!   If burial is not possible, the DCC recommends that you […]

City Sanctuary volunteer Michelle has been trapping in the town belt for the past couple of years. She’s also a backyard trapper and we recently learned that her boys Thomas and Espen are avid helpers. We caught up with her to find out more about her family’s experience as City Sanctuary trappers.  Can you tell […]

Marilyn, a long-time resident of Ōpoho, used to regularly hear possums at her property. In recent years, possum activity had reduced significantly but there was no mistaking who the culprit was when Marilyn heard raspy calls in her basement in the night!  Marilyn’s daughter did some detective work and caught video footage of a possum […]

Ka tangi te tītī, ka tangi te kākā, ka tangi hoki ahau. Tihei Mauri Ora! The tītī is calling, the kākā is calling and I wish to call. Behold, there is life! Tumai Cassidy from Te Rūnaka ō Ōtākou opened the Predator Free Dunedin Winter series talk, “Back to the future: Reintroducing taoka species to Ōtepoti Dunedin” […]

There are many ways we can help improve garden biodiversity. Here are a few options suitable for spaces and budgets of all sizes: 🪤 Predator control. Set up rat, possum or wasp traps on your property. By removing these pest species from your property you will make your backyard safer for other native and beneficial […]

Possums are a nocturnal species so if you do see one foraging in daylight, the possum is likely to be unwell or injured.  Over the past few months there have been a few unwell possums reported to us requiring humane dispatch. Some have been seen having difficulty climbing and in poor condition. There are a […]

Why bother monitoring predators? Isn’t trapping enough?  Monitoring possum distribution is an important part of City Sanctuary’s work. Monitoring helps us understand where possums are still present so we can focus our efforts and assess how well we’re doing with our predator control work.  Monitoring devices such as motion-activated cameras, chew cards and wax-tags, don’t […]

We did it team! We reached another milestone with our 5000th rat being caught by City Sanctuary resident, Rosalind.  Rosalind became a City Sanctuary supporter in 2022 after hearing that a neighbour of hers had signed up to be a backyard trapper. City Sanctuary team member Emily recalled that on her first visit, she realised Rosalind’s large […]

Kai, from City Sanctuary shares some cage trapping learnings from his time working on the peninsula. “With our recent work lending a hand with the elimination work on the peninsula, we shifted tactics away from conventional kill traps like Trapinators and Flipping Timmys, and onto cage traps. Cages can be a great way to mop […]