Matakohe Limestone Island has recently dealt with a ferret incursion.
On Friday September 6th our resident kiwi Sir Ed was found dead in his nest with 2 eggs next to him. The circumstances were suspicious, so a camera was placed facing the nest overnight. Upon checking the camera on the morning of Saturday September 7th, a ferret was sighted visiting the nest and an emergency response was underway immediately. Several different types of lure, traps, and more cameras were deployed at various sites all over the island. A nesting grey-faced petrel/ōi was also found dead in a burrow and the egg missing. On the morning of Sunday September 8th, within 24hrs of its presence being confirmed, a 1.5kg male ferret was caught in a trap.
It is unknown how the ferret arrived on the island. To our knowledge, and after speaking with experts around New Zealand, this is the first incursion on an island in New Zealand of this distance. It is highly unusual for a ferret to swim this far. Because incursions across water are extremely rare, our island did not have ferret traps installed.
For a kiwi population a ferret incursion is catastrophic, as ferrets are capable of killing adult kiwi, whereas the smaller stoats can only kill chicks. Ferrets have the potential to wipe out entire kiwi populations in short periods of time. The full extent of the damage caused by this ferret is unknown.
The island trapping network was set up for stoats, which are good swimmers, but we will now modify the trapping network to include ferret traps.
We have sighted and heard kiwi calling since the ferret incursion.
We wish to thank the enormous efforts of everybody who rushed to our aid:
And a thank you to everyone who offered support and further help.
