Saturday, 19 April 2014

World Heritage Day - protecting our natural heritage

What better way to spend World Heritage Day, than getting out and protecting our natural heritage. It just so happened that the stormy weather cleared and Friends of Mana Island volunteers were able to get out and clear the pest traps along the nearby mainland coast. Volunteers clear these DOC traps regularly, each time they are cleared the trap is set again and ready to catch another pest.


The pest traps are designed to catch stoats, weasels and rats, all of them introduced predators of the native lizards that live in this coastal habitat.
Caught!

Our native skinks and geckos are an important part of the coastal ecosystem.
Baby gecko
Keeping down the numbers of predators might also give little penguins a chance to start nesting here again, as well as making life easier for other native birds.