Created by the Otago Peninsula Biodiversity Group and the City Sanctuary Project, under the umbrella of Predator Free Dunedin, the week-long Spotlight on Possums project encouraged Dunedin people to grab a flashlight and head out into the backyard, local part or reserve to look for possums.
The event included the entire City Sanctuary area, covering 8000ha across many Dunedin suburbs and urban reserves, with a particular focus on Otago Peninsula.
Predator Free Dunedin communications and engagement lead Jacinta Steeds was very happy with the public response to the event, with 160 reports received from local people. Of those, 73 people reported seeing a possum, and 93 people did not see a possum.
"Thanks to everyone’s efforts, we now have a better understanding of how many possums are in Dunedin, which helps us figure out the best places to focus our predator control efforts," Ms Steeds said.
The overall results, in which 56% of participants saw a possum, while 44% did not, were in stark contrast to Otago Peninsula, where only 17% saw a possum , while 83% did not.
This reflected the success of the possum eradication work done by the Otago Peninsula Biodiversity Group (OPBG), which has trapped and removed more than 23,000 possums from the peninsula in the past 12 years.
OPBG community engagement team leader Marcia Dale said it was important to tap into the eyes and ears of the community to find the few remaining possums. She was pleased with this year’s results from the Spotlight on Possums project.
"Over the course of the event we had nine possums reported from the peninsula, all from residential areas," Ms Dale said.
"Possums can be tricky to catch from built up areas because we are limited in what tools we can use.
"That’s why it is so essential to have our community keeping their eyes and ears out for possums and reporting in their sightings."
The OPBG had already captured four of the possums seen in the spotlights, and was working on the other five.
"One of the possums was heard hissing loudly near the Musselburgh bakery — we’re keen for residents in that area to keep on the lookout for that particular possum."
Ms Dale said participants enjoyed their evening excursion, regardless of whether they spotted a possum or not.
"One legend even ran a circuit from Andersons Bay to Portobello via the high road and back again along the harbour road in the middle of the night, spotlighting with his head torch the entire way — he didn’t spot a single possum," she said.
The Spotlight on Possums event also included the vast rural area covered by the Halo Project — covering 42,000ha from the Silverpeaks to the sea. This year, the Halo Project was particularly interested in reports of populations in the West Harbour and Blueskin Bay areas, to help with targeting future trapping operations.
Possum spotters reported seeing seven possums and hearing many more within a 200m radius in the Seacliff area.
Ms Steeds said it was good to get a picture of the density of possums around Seacliff.
"Anecdotally, a Seacliff resident has removed more than 30 possums since the beginning of the year, using a Timms device baited with apples from the reserve, so we know they are out there," she said.
"Also, we were thrilled to read that a resident living near the Orokonui Ecosanctuary has never seen or heard a possum on their property, even though they are surrounded by possum habitat."
