A showdown between a wily rat and the Waiheke Island pest eradicators has gone into overtime, with efforts to catch the elusive rat failing and the group set up to catch it refusing to stop until they do.
The Waiheke pest eradication project was supposed to end its trial, set up to catch rodents, on Thursday, but because the rat didn’t take the bait – literally, the trial has been extended for six more weeks.
Te Korowai O Waiheke’s rat operations manager Owain Tanner said that in week 10 of the originally 18-week trial there were zero detections of rats in the trial area.
That means no bait was taken in a one-week period from the 1670 bait stations placed in a 25m by 25m grid across Oneroa – an area which contains houses, holiday homes, shops and restaurants.
So Tanner was sceptical when a resident got in touch that same week to say there was a rat living in his roof.
Wax blocks made of peanut butter and paraffin were put in the roof and two days later he called to say both the blocks had been munched by rats, Tanner said. But bait stations in the man’s garden remained untouched.
Tanner said research shows that rats should be coming and going, and accessing food, but “they can be incredibly evasive”.
Te Korowai O Waiheke/Supplied
The rat, nicknamed ‘Kinky’ because of a kink in its tail, has outwitted eradicators and is living rent-free in a roof cavity on Waiheke Island.
Cameras were placed in the roof cavity and footage shows the rat has a kink in its tail, earning it the nickname Kinky.
The kink means the rat is easily identifiable, and the team knows there is just one rat living in the roof space.
More wax blocks and peanut butter-stuffed chew cards were put in the garden, where there is compost and fruit trees, as well as around the man’s house.
But only the wax blocks in the roof cavity have been chewed.
Tanner has also put cameras in trees outside the home to try to capture the rat’s entry and exit points.
“When you get a low population their behaviour changes. The last ones act uniquely.”
He estimated between 600 and 1000 rats have been killed in the trial.
“The remnants of the population are the most difficult to catch.”
Undeterred by this one wily rat, Tanner valued the opportunity to learn more about rat behaviour.
“We’re at the forefront of eradication science with what we’re doing. We’ve had success previously getting to zero using these methods with other trials. It shows there’s always more to learn.”
On Thursday, the team was installing a thermal imaging camera, borrowed from Auckland Council, outside the house in a bid to find out where the rat is coming and going.
“At night it should show a nice orange glowing dot of him in the roof.”
Tanner said the lessons learnt will give a better idea of tools to use in future trials planned for the island as Te Korowai O Waiheke works towards ultimately ridding the island of rats and stoats.
The homeowner has allowed the organisation to continue monitoring the rat over the six-week extension, Tanner said.
“It shows how important it is to have the community support. We would never have known about it if it wasn’t for this guy letting us know.”
