What motivated you want to start volunteering?
When I first came to Dunedin as a student in the mid-1980’s the dawn chorus used to be loud and long. Then over the years this has been getting gradually less and less, so gradually that you didn’t notice at first. I also do a lot of walking in the hills around Dunedin, at one stage I was heading into Silverpeaks every weekend. I’d be walking along towards Green Hut and there would be a pile of feathers on the track, then the next weekend another pile of feathers nearby, and another pile the following weekend. Then I started seeing stoats in broad daylight, that’s how brazen they were getting. Then a couple of years ago I noticed something else, mustelid traps started appearing on some of the tracks. “I have to be part of this”; I contacted the Halo Project who then forwarded my details onto City Sanctuary.
How do you stay in touch with your other crew members?
We have a “Ross Creek B line” WhatsApp group, with a bumblebee as the group icon.
Any funny/interesting stories to share?
I usually remove any catches before Elly gets too close to the trap but there was once when I didn’t spot the dead animal next to an A24. Elly bends down to check the trap and goes “arghhh, mouse”, and very quickly flings this dead mouse at high speed at head height into the bushes some distance away.
What species would you like to see flourishing again on your trap line?
Rifleman/tītitipounamu, we’ve heard them a couple of times when checking the trap line but are yet to see any.
February 20, 2025
Volunteer stories: protecting Ross Creek, one trap at a time — City Sanctuary
maximios city
What motivated you want to start volunteering?
When I first came to Dunedin as a student in the mid-1980’s the dawn chorus used to be loud and long. Then over the years this has been getting gradually less and less, so gradually that you didn’t notice at first. I also do a lot of walking in the hills around Dunedin, at one stage I was heading into Silverpeaks every weekend. I’d be walking along towards Green Hut and there would be a pile of feathers on the track, then the next weekend another pile of feathers nearby, and another pile the following weekend. Then I started seeing stoats in broad daylight, that’s how brazen they were getting. Then a couple of years ago I noticed something else, mustelid traps started appearing on some of the tracks. “I have to be part of this”; I contacted the Halo Project who then forwarded my details onto City Sanctuary.
How do you stay in touch with your other crew members?
We have a “Ross Creek B line” WhatsApp group, with a bumblebee as the group icon.
Any funny/interesting stories to share?
I usually remove any catches before Elly gets too close to the trap but there was once when I didn’t spot the dead animal next to an A24. Elly bends down to check the trap and goes “arghhh, mouse”, and very quickly flings this dead mouse at high speed at head height into the bushes some distance away.
What species would you like to see flourishing again on your trap line?
Rifleman/tītitipounamu, we’ve heard them a couple of times when checking the trap line but are yet to see any.