Akaroa Operations (Wildside)…

Pest Free Banks Peninsula operates across a 23,000ha area on Banks Peninsula known as the Extended Wildside. 

By area, it looks like this: 

By the numbers:   
Our possum elimination programme encompasses a total land area of 23,000ha.  

Our ‘operational frontline’ – our knockdown area, is targeted across 357 hectares (purple), about 6800ha are in passive mop-up (blue), another 1400ha is under surveillance (light green), and properties spanning 950ha are in defence (possum free) (dark green).  

That means we are recording very few, if any, possums across an area of just under 10,000 ha. 

The four phases of our possum elimination programme: 

1. Knockdown: an intensive, tight-knight network of toxin stations (using Brodifacoum and biodegradable bags with Feratox , the brand name for Cyanide) or traps – depending on the environment and/or landowner’s preference. This phase aims to remove 95 percent of possums and lasts three to five months. 

2. Mop-Up: sometimes called ‘passive mop-up’ this phase occurs over a period of months during which a network of trail cameras detects where the last remaining possums are. Possum detection dogs and AT220’s (auto traps at a density of one per 20 ha) are then dispatched to target and catch them.  

3. Surveillance: using track cameras and community observations (via our Report a Pest online system). Possum dogs are also brought in to root out any elusive stragglers. 

4. Defence (possum free): after 9 weeks without spotting any possums on the camera network, we then go into defence (possum free) mode. This involves leaving a layer of monitoring equipment in targeted areas and relying on landowner and community engagement to alert us to any possum activity. 

The thing we must always be mindful of when it comes to eliminating possums is that reinvasion is always a risk, especially when juvenile male possums can travel tens of kilometres each week. 

Look how far we’ve come: 

In October 2022, PFBP started ground operations in Onuku, working towards the Akaroa headlands, “we started in the south-east corner of Banks Peninsula, keeping the water at our backs, and headed towards Akaroa. Possums are not going to head out to sea.” 

In the two-and-a-half years since, we have been moving across the landscape strategically, eliminating possums in our target areas and using natural features to assist in limiting reinvasion risk. 

But don’t just take our word for it… 

In May 2025, Newsroom published a feature article on the success of the Pest Free Banks Peninsula programme in Akaroa. This is an excerpt: 

Since 2019, entrepreneur Grant Ryan has tested thermal cameras for his Cacophony Project in the backyard of his Akaroa property, near Stanley Park “but right up the top”. 

Early on, the cameras would detect the movements of several possums each day. Now there are none. 

An analysis of 24,000 recordings, over 1100 monitoring nights, reveals possum numbers starting to drop in 2023. In 2024 there was one recording of the brush-tailed critters, and so far this year there have been none. 

“The Banks Peninsula team are probably applying the very best set of tools in New Zealand for the sort of environment they’re in,” Ryan says. “They’re doing a fantastic job.”