Climate change and rubbish blamed for Wellington's 'monster rat' crisis

Thursday, 15 August 2019

Conservationists warn some species could be lost in a rat population boom. (First published 18/06/19)

Climate change and pollution have been blamed for Wellington's 'monster rat' problem.

Silverstream resident Tracey Ultra said rats cost her $1200 in electrical repairs - they chewed through her wires.

Ultra said she didn't even know she had a rat problem until her lights went out.

'We were so lucky that it didn't cause a fire,' she said.

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Like most insurance companies, her insurer would not cover the costs, she said.

Rodent and insect damage was not covered, but if the rats had caused a fire it would have been.

Silverstream resident Tracey Ultra said her rat issue cost her $1200 - they chewed through her wires.

Two Wellington pest control companies have said business soared 35-40 per cent this year - all down to the increase in rats.

Rats up to 50 centimetes long have been found following this year's 'mega mast' event - higher forest seeding than normal - and the rats are enjoying an abundance of sustaining snacks.

Forest and Bird regional manager Tom Kay said rats were thriving due to the abundance of food available.

'Seeing the size of some of those rats that have been caught this year, some of them are 500 grams,' he said.

'It raises questions around if we're actually impacting the population, or are we just polishing off this extra increase in the rat population?'

This year's mega mast year was particularly unusual because all native trees had seeded more - not just one or two of them.

A rat the ''size of a small possum'' was caught in Aro Valley in June.

Department of Conservation scientists and Niwa predictions had all pointed towards increasing temperatures, he said.

'There's an increased risk to our birds because of that.'

The warming climate meant an increased risk of mast years like this one.

'We're going to have to focus on the big questions like climate change and what they mean.'

Predator Free Mt Vic organiser Ian Robertson said he was still trapping huge rats.

'There's definitely still big ones around. We've had people driving home from work and in to the Mt Vic tunnel and they swerve because they think they're going to hit someone's cat.

'Then they realise it's a rat.'

He wanted about 700 people in the area to be trapping, but so far, only about 400 were.

This whopper was caught by Ian Robertson of Predator Free Mt Vic - it's 50cm from nose to tail, weighing 500 grams.

'We still need more people getting onboard.'

He had 100 new trap boxes ready to hand out to people in the community.

'I think the backyard trapping is still really helping a lot with controlling the rats and keeping the numbers down.'

Petone Beach clean up coordinator Lorraine Shaab said careless littering was also helping rats to get fatter.

'We have a growing number of muppets who think its okay to throw their fast food rubbish out their car window.

'This just encourages rats to come out and investigate the food source,' she said.

'The Railway track fence line along the Hutt road between the Petone railway station and Motorway was riddled with rubbish … I believe we could fill a skip with that rubbish alone.'