Going into bat for pekapeka

Pekapeka, New Zealand’s long-tailed bat, may be small but the importance of their survival is weighty when it comes to native species preservation.

This means the gloves are off in the fight to protect the remaining population at Pelorus Bridge Scenic Reserve with a redoubling of effort and a renewed emphasis on maximising predator control efforts into 2025. A callout is also being made for more people to join the long-established volunteer predator control programme.

Staff from Forest & Bird, DOC, volunteers and independent ecologists are brainstorming the design of a new trapping grid to enhance protection while still preserving the important part volunteers play in the protection of this population. This will involve the trial of some new electronic predator control traps.

Along with the short-tailed bat, pekapeka are New Zealand’s only endemic land mammal and are high on the national conservation priority list as well as Te Hoiere Project’s predator control and habitat protection and enhancement efforts.

Forest & Bird’s Te Hoiere Bat Recovery Project Manager Dr Daria Erastova said unfortunately the remaining populations of pekepeka were declining due to predation and loss of habitat. The population at Pelorus Bridge Scenic Reserve sadly reflects this nationwide trend.

Pekapeka were first detected at Pelorus Bridge 14 years ago and predator control efforts have been shouldered by volunteers since that time. The team of professional contractors is now heading into its seventh season of bat monitoring.

Thirty-three volunteers are ‘on the books’ at present travelling from both Marlborough and Nelson to do predator control. “New volunteers are welcome at any time, and we’d love more helpers as we up the effort to protect pekapeka at Pelorus River,” Daria said.

For more information or to become a volunteer contact Daria on d.erastova@forestandbird.org.nz