Want to help bring bird life back to Auckland? Wouldn't it be cool to walk down the street and see kākā, kererū or pīwakawaka, or hear their birdsongs? For this to become a reality, extensive predator control is necessary. Rats, possums and mustelids feast on native bird eggs and foliage, leaving nothing for our native species.

Conservation Volunteers New Zealand in partnership with Auckland Council are currently running a predator control programme over 30 Auckland parks. If you are interested in being part of this amazing initiative, please register your interest and we’ll book you into one of our upcoming training sessions.

Animal pests (rodents and possums) compete with native birds for food and raid their nests for chicks and eggs. They also feed on a wide range of native plants, lizards and invertebrates. Your parks need your help to prevent this destruction. In partnership with Auckland Council, we run two predator control training sessions twice per year. Once trained, you’ll be assigned to a local predator control network in one of the Auckland parks where you will bait and reset traps and record your catches. The trapping takes anywhere between 30 and 90 minutes, depending on number of traps, terrain etc. Most volunteers walk their line of traps or bait stations fortnightly or monthly. You can choose when you walk your own track, so you can do it at a time that suits you. Volunteers should be able to commit to a minimum of 12 months, be comfortable working alone in forested areas and handling rodent and possum carcasses. Preferably you should live or work locally to the pest control area.

We will host a training session for new volunteers in June There will be two sessions-morning and afternoon. You only need to attend one.

Please note we only operate in the area of the following 5 local boards; Albert-Eden, Ōrākei, Waitematā, Puketāpapa, and Maungakiekie-Tāmaki. This is the inner area of Auckland. This does not include anywhere on the North Shore or South Auckland.

For more information on the parks we operate in, or to book onto one of our training sessions please contact Cassidy at [email protected] or call 0800 567 686.