I was chatting to an Auckland ranger at one of our recent trapping get togethers (yes, volunteering involves occasional tasty morning teas and great conversation), and she shared the reactions she got speaking at an ecological conference in the northern hemisphere on the success they are having at Tarawhanui Regional Park, turning it into an open sanctuary. She was getting lots of nods and amazing feedback until she told them about the trapping and baiting they had to do to get rid of our pests (possums, stoats and rats mostly) - most of the conservationists in the room could not believe what we have to do to keep our native animals safe from predators down under.

Back here in New Zealand we understand that possums, rats and stoats are the biggest threats to our native animals. Scarily DOC statistics say a third of our native species are already at risk of extinction. Some would go extinct in just two human generations without predator control.

Thats why so many of us at Love Te Arai prioritise predator control and trapping. We volunteer with Auckland Council to trap Te Arai headlands and have traps around our homes. Some of these are supplied by Forest Bridge trust (TFBT) who are one of the many organisations helping Te Arai work towards that predator free vision, and have an interesting story as a farmer-initiated environment trust building a bridge of predator free forest from the Kaipara Harbour in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east (that's Te Arai). TFBT are now hoping to  support the predator free conservation effort in the Tomorata, Te Arai, Logues and Te Hana areas by helping local landowners to set up predator control for their properties with the use of free traps.  They believe that eventually the kiwi colony at Tamahunga and those in the Brynderwyns will travel through to this area in search of new territory, and create new colonies, so TFBT are hoping to have a robust network of community lead trapping in the area before this happens. Other organisations in Te Arai area alongside Auckland Council and TFBT include the Department of Conservation, Shorebirds Trust, Conservation Coast and Restore Rodney East.

Trapping generally involves walking in full sunshine around your dedicated trap line, checking and re-baiting each trap. Hopefully you'll find some dead predators in your traps to get rid of (if the maggots haven't already completed this job). If your stomach reacted to the last line, I have to warn you, this job isn't for the faint hearted. Working in Te Arai though means the best part is at the end of the line, when a swim at the local beach is in order to wash off the smell of a job well done.

After your walk, the job isn't over, you also need to log your trapping checks in the Trap NZ app, which create a lot of useful data on how many predators are being controlled all over New Zealand. This usefully tells us nearly 200 animals (mostly rats) were caught in Te Arai regional park in the last year. Further down the coast in Te Arai south, 400 - double the amount, were caught. Even better, looking online and searching the projects means you can see all the trapping action in your area, I can almost feel we might reach predator free 2050!

If you're interested in getting involved, contact any of the organisations above and see how you can help.