Auckland's island-hopping stoat: Elusive pest caught on camera on Motutapu Island

Thursday, 24 September 2020

Nine weeks after first being spotted, an elusive stoat is still on the run from the Department of Conservation on Auckland's Motutapu and Rangitoto islands (video first published July 25, 2020).

An island-hopping stoat has been caught on camera on Auckland’s Motutapu Island.

A trail cam spotted the glowing eyes of the stoat early Thursday morning last week.

Stoat footprints were first spotted by a ranger on Motutapu Island in Auckland’s Hauraki Gulf on May 20, just a few weeks after a stoat was confirmed on the neighbouring Motukorea/Browns Island in mid-March.

Stoats pose a significant risk to threatened native birds and lizards – the stoat on Motutapu Island killed a kākāriki, a New Zealand parakeet, in May.

The glowing eyes of an elusive stoat on Motutapu Island has been captured on camera.

* Auckland's island-hopping stoat: Inside the bid to outsmart an 'expert killer'

* Island-hopping stoat: Fresh tracks detected on Motutapu and Rangitoto islands

Most of the 350 traps on Rangitoto and Motutapu contain the “classic rabbit and egg bait” to try and catch the stoat.

* Stoat could be island hopping in Auckland's pest-free Hauraki Gulf

* Hunt for stoat on pest-free Hauraki Gulf islands continues as parakeet found dead

* Stoat thought to be on Auckland’s Motutapu Island threatening native birds, lizards

The Department of Conservation (DOC), which has been working to catch the stoat, said the network of 350 traps across Motutapu and Rangitoto Islands are being re-baited.

Traps contain a mix of lures – there is rabbit and egg bait, hay from chicken barns, nesting materials from other stoats and ferrets and a cork covered in salmon.

Trail cams are also checked by staff on the island daily.

With the stoat surfacing from its den, conservation dogs will be visiting the island next week to identify hot spot areas for the stoat’s scent.

Rangers are monitoring the endangered tūturuatu/shore plover and takahē populations on the island.

There have been 27 confirmed or suspected pest sightings on island wildlife sanctuaries in Auckland’s Hauraki Gulf in recent years.

Between 2017 and May 2020, rats, stoats, mice, cats and rainbow skinks have made their way to islands in the gulf, according to DOC data.