Wallaby sighting on track cause for concern

The Waikato Regional Council’s pest management experts are concerned a recent wallaby sighting north of Lake Taupō could be the result of an illegal release of the pest species.

According to a Facebook post made by the Waikato Regional Council (WRC), staff received information about a wallaby sighting from a person who had been cycling along the Otaketake Trail who saw what they described as a kangaroo running down the trail ahead of them.

‘‘In the last six months, we also had a wallaby sighting in the Coromandel Peninsula,’’ the post went on to say.

‘‘Both cases were confirmed using detector dogs.

‘‘We believe these wallabies were illegal releases because the sightings were more than 50 kilometres away from any known breeding population, making natural dispersal highly unlikely.’’

But, in 2019, Forest & Bird issued a dire warning about the spread of the animals in the Kaimai Range and surrounding areas, predicting that if left unchecked they could spread over a third of New Zealand within 50 years. However, due to the pressure of high numbers of wallabies in the Bay of Plenty, wallabies continue to encroach into the Waikato region.

The WRC said low numbers of wallabies are now present between Reporoa and SH5 on the Mamaku Plateau and the National Wallaby Eradication Programme has developed a control plan designed to prevent further spread of wallabies into the Waikato and ultimately to eradicate them from the region.

According to the WRC website, wallabies have a huge appetite for seedlings and shrubs, which prevents the regeneration of native bush, and can destroy the habitats of native birds and lizards.

Wallabies are classified as an unwanted organism in the Biosecurity Act 1993 and as pests in the Waikato Regional Pest Management Plan.

This makes it illegal to move, breed or release wallabies without a permit.

The WRC would like any wallaby sightings reported to www.reportwallabies.nz, or by calling (0800) 246 732.