Previously in our three-part series our pest-control coordinator Sian arrived at Malololelei reserve in Upolu to help set up rodent tracking equipment.
Prior to Sian’s visit several members of Samoa’s Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, including Senior Parks and Reserves Officer Viola, came to Auckland Zoo to learn the techniques and devices we use to control rodents.
To get a good indication of the rat activity in the reserve, Sian teaches the team how to create peanut butter chew cards that they attach on trees in the area and also how to set up monitoring tunnels to collect data through animal footprints.
Rats and other introduced pest species are extremely detrimental to Samoa’s endemic birds like the manumea and mao bird.
Follow the team’s progress in our third and final episode of this series and read more about the Conservation work we do.