Auckland's island-hopping stoat: Elusive pest found in trap on Rangitoto Island

Friday, 25 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).

A week after a trail cam spotted the glowing eyes of an island-hopping stoat on Auckland’s Motutapu Island, the elusive pest has been found dead in a trap.

The Department of Conservation (DOC) and iwi Ngāi Tai ki Tāmaki said the stoat was found in a trap on neighbouring Rangitoto Island near bach 27 on Friday.

Stoat pawprints 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.

* Dozens of pest sightings on Hauraki Gulf islands in last three years

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

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

* 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

There was a network of 350 traps across both islands at the time the stoat was caught.

Casual ranger Tash Drury retrieved the stoat after a report it had finally been caught.

The 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.

Katherine Lane, DOC’s inner islands operations manager, said the news was a “very big win” for endangered species on the islands.

“We are very relieved that the stoat has been caught …. We can all breathe a bit more easier knowing that our endangered species are safe from this pest.”

The glowing eyes of what is believed to be an elusive stoat on Motutapu Island was captured on camera last Thursday.

Rangers had increased monitoring the endangered tūturuatu/shore plover and takahē populations on the island as a result of the stoat’s invasion.

“It is critical for kaitiakitanga for our birds and Tāne-mahuta for these pests to be caught. We are extremely proud of our collective efforts with DOC,” Ngāi Tai tribal leader Billy Brown said.

Most traps contain the “classic rabbit and egg bait” to try and catch stoats.

But the stoat’s capture did not mean the four-month operation on the islands was at an end – measures will stay in place until there are no more signs of pest activity.

Conservation dogs will visit the island next week to ensure the stoat was the one they had been hunting for months.

A ranger first spotted the stoat’s tracks on the stretch of beach near the Motutapu Outdoor Education Camp on May 20

DOC’s principal science advisor, Dr Elaine Murphy, said if the caught stoat was female it would have been giving birth around now.

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.