Why Predator Free?

The potential benefits of a Predator Free Miramar are many.

Since becoming possum free in 2004, we’ve already seen increased local bird life with tui and piwakawaka or fantail having moved back in, and a breeding pair of kereru recorded at Scorching Bay last year for the first time in living memory.

In recent months the Peninsula’s had regular visits from karearea or New Zealand falcon who fly over from the Zealandia mothership. Most people only ever see these treasured birds on their twenty dollar notes, but with just a little help from backyard trappers, we’ll see them make their nests in Miramar.

The much-vaunted success at Polhill Reserve, the bush-clad valleys between Zealandia and Aro Street shows what can be achieved by controlling introduced predators.

After just a couple of years of attention from enthusiastic neighbours, we now have kaka living and breeding on the CBD fringe. Tieke or saddleback - once extinct, save a handful of refugees on island sanctuaries - are now breeding in the wild for the first time in more than a century!

And given “the wild” is just minutes from the heart of the CBD, it’s not a pipe dream to think that with a little love and attention over a few short years, we’ll see tieke, kaka and even kiwi, breeding and thriving on Miramar Peninsula.

With Wellington Airport, we’re the gateway to the best little city in the world. And with the best beaches and the best walks we’re already wild at heart. As Wellywood and with the best cafes in town, we’re top of the list for places to show off to your out-of-town friends when they visit. And if we can bring back the bush and the bird life - we’ll really have something to boast about.

Even if birds n bush don’t float your boat, there are other benefits to getting rid of rats. Did you know rodents chewing through electrical wires are believed to cause eight percent of house fires? One Miramar resident just had to buy a new dishwasher after rats gnawed through the outlet hose and destroyed it!

But maybe one of the best things about the Predator Free movement is the way it builds communities. Folk working together for a common goal can’t help but feel united and ‘part of something’. Doing something - even as small as checking a backyard trap - gives people some skin in the game.

Conservation can be a starting point for a conversation - and a way to turn strangers into neighbours. An entire community, connected and rallying around a common goal? Nice.