ORC’s wallaby search programme around Flagstaff near Dunedin has not found any trace of the pests yet - but is set to continue into next year.

Operation Flagstaff began in early-October around Flagstaff / Swampy Summit and is targeting a total more than 8300 hectares, split across five separate blocks, to the north of Dunedin city.

Contracted professional hunters are being used to search for wallaby and wallaby sign (scat), which includes the use of dogs, drones, and trail cameras.

ORC’s Project Delivery Specialist, Gavin Udy, says the wallaby operation has made good progress over the last month in searching the City Forests block for any wallaby presence.

“It’s crucial that the entire area is searched thoroughly to ensure any wallaby that are present are found and removed.”

“While none have been detected to date, or any other wallaby sign (scat), finding wallaby in this landscape where very few are present is challenging,” Mr Udy says.

ORC’s Moeraki ward Councillor Kevin Malcolm is also Chair of Otago Wallaby Regional Co-ordination Group, part of the Tipu Mātoro National Wallaby Eradication Programme, the latter funded and co-ordinated by Biosecurity New Zealand.

“Wallabies pose an immense threat to the sustainability of agriculture and the environment in general around Canterbury and Otago. We need to take this opportunity to ensure wallaby populations are eradicated and don’t spread further southward,” he says.

Mr Malcolm says of the Flagstaff wallaby programme that it is critical all operations around wallaby control stick to the national objective of eradicating wallabies completely – across the country.

Mr Udy says the search team’s efforts have primarily focussed on searching animal game trails as wallaby use these paths as natural travel corridors through the dense vegetation found in this area.”

Over the next few weeks, the contractor team will look to complete their search of the 1566ha City Forests block and then start in the adjacent 1005ha Silverstream block.

Mr Udy says the search team will be taking a break over the holiday period before returning in mid-January to continue the operation – which will continue through 2026 until completed.

A total 8314 hectares will be searched over the five blocks

The public can help by reporting any wallaby seen, dead or alive, at reportwallabies.nz

To find out more about the Flagstaff operation, go to orc.govt.nz/operationflagstaff

Operation Flagstaff background

Bennett’s Wallaby is one of five wallaby species introduced to New Zealand from Australia in the late 1800s. Wallabies are herbivores and each year they cost New Zealand millions of dollars in lost farm production and environmental damage.

The presence of Bennett’s Wallaby poses a major biosecurity risk to our region’s primary industry and the natural environment. Otago has a chance of eliminating this pest as they are still in relatively low numbers here.

The aim is to eliminate wallaby from Flagstaff, but resources mean we may only be able to destroy those that we do find.

The Tipu Mātoro National Wallaby Eradication Programme, led by Biosecurity New Zealand, is providing approximately 85% of the operation’s funding - the remaining funding provided by ORC.

Biosecurity New Zealand is a unit within the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) and is responsible for managing New Zealand's biosecurity system. Biosecurity New Zealand’s funding is essential to the viability of this operation.

Surveillance will be conducted in accordance with regulatory and legislative requirements, animal welfare guidelines and best practice methods.

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