maximios

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 […]

City Sanctuary is gearing up for the next chapter of work, beginning regular five-minute bird counts. It’s a simple but effective tool that can be used to gauge the health of ecosystems where predator control has taken place.  The count requires an observer to record the number and species of birds seen or heard at […]

18 Dec Written By City Sanctuary 2024 has been a milestone year for City Sanctuary with the 5,000th possum and 5,000th rat officially removed from Dunedin. We presently have 3,463 possum, rat and mustelid traps across City Sanctuary’s operating area; 1,698 in residential backyards and 1,765 in city reserves. City Sanctuary traps across Dunedin City […]

We know from our recent survey that City Sanctuary residents love animals and want the best for our native species and our pet cats. 27% of the survey respondents own cats and we all want to keep pet cats safe while we are carrying out predator control. We can proudly say that after several years […]

 When you provide personal information to us, we will comply with the New Zealand Privacy Act 2020. The personal information you provide to us (including any information provided if you sign up as a volunteer or trap host) is collected and may be used to communicate with you, for statistical analysis and reporting, research and […]

We’re very excited to share that at least two nest boxes for rifleman/titipounamu in Ross Creek have been used this season.   During our official monitor in October, staff found two boxes had nests and were being continually visited by adults with beaks full of insects. From inside the boxes there was a lot of hungry […]

Our long time Community Ranger and communications expert, Zac Martin, will soon take flight on a new adventure working with the Dunedin City Baptist Church and studying part-time at Otago University. Project Manager, Catherine reflects on Zac’s contribution across the breadth of the City Sanctuary project over the past four years.    ”It seems like […]

31 Jan Written By City Sanctuary Word cloud of responses about what makes Dunedin special.  In October, City Sanctuary released a survey to get a pulse on how Dunedin residents feel about predator control activities in the city, the impact of predators in the local environment and how we can sustainably support predator control.  The survey […]