Contractors working for the Otago Regional Council on wallaby monitoring and surveillance in the Hawea management unit have identified one set of wallaby footprints.
Council biosecurity manager Andrea Howard confirmed the footprints were found a fortnight ago.
‘‘Contractors on the ground are working systematically through the surrounding areas to make sure there are no signs of other individuals or populations, and to demarcate the likely area of wallaby presence for future controls.
‘‘Wallabies have been spotted and destroyed in the area in the past, so we are not surprised to encounter wallaby signs in the Hawea management unit — it tells us we are monitoring the right places,’’ Ms Howard said.
The council’s wallaby monitoring and surveillance in northern parts of Otago has already led to the identification and destruction of a wallaby in the Kakanui Mountains.
The programme, which began June 1, had had a funding increase of $373,000 from Biosecurity New Zealand’s national wallaby eradication programme, a council spokesman said.
