Lord Howe Island Board, The Lord Howe Island Signal

87 rodents removed – (35 adults, 50 juveniles, 2 TBC)

To date 87 rodents have been removed. All rodent detections and removals have been within the northern settlement area. A small number of rats that continue to be detected are being actively monitored and baited. The full Settlement and some adjacent areas of the PPP continue to be searched to inform the response.

The areas adjacent to the Settlement that have recently been searched by dog teams include the northern and western slopes of Transit Hill and the southern slopes of Malabar, as well as the area around the WMF. No rodent activity has been detected in those areas, and some checks on the western side of Intermediate Hill will be scheduled for next week.

The lack of rodent sign after dog searches in the PPP areas checked to date help give confidence that rodent activity is currently restricted to the northern Settlement.

Dog search

7 dogs, 4 dog handlers
1507 km searched, 16.7 km average per day

Field crews

Checks in settlement and PPP of bait stations, kill traps, wax tags, chew cards, tracker tunnels and cameras
Total device checks 53,102 Last 5 days 924

Response Ground Operations Team welcomes Keith Springer and Chris Birmingham

The response team, welcomes our new ground operations manager Chris Birmingham and technical advisor Keith Springer, flying in from NZ to replace Dr Grant Harper and Simon Pahor who returned to scheduled work in NZ and VIC after 3 months on LHI providing critical technical advice to the response program.

The response team would like to thank Grant and Simon for their expertise and ongoing commitment to seeing Lord Howe Island rodent free.

Keith Springer has been involved in eradication projects for nearly 20 years, targeting feral cats, rodents and rabbits.

He has managed or had operational roles on Macquarie Island (Australia), Adele Island (Australia), South Georgia (UK) and Antipodes Island (New Zealand), and planning roles on Gough Island (UK) and Marion Island (South Africa). Keith was the technical advisor during the 2019 Rodent Eradication.

Chris Birmingham is from New Zealand and has experience with the Department of Conservation (DOC) in monitoring threatened species, quarantine and island biosecurity, weed control and predator control. He has worked on many of New Zealand’s offshore islands including time spent managing island sanctuaries and reserves.

He currently works for DOC in Te Anau managing landscape scale predator control operations in and around Fiordland National Park, as well as assisting with island biosecurity at a local and national level.

Ongoing response communications

Community feedback has indicated that the weekly update on the rodent response remains of interest and fortunately we have been able to secure continued assistance from NPWS to ensure this continues to be delivered.

We would also like to welcome Lucy Morris to the communications team joining Nicola, who will be returning to her PT Ranger duties this week, and will continue to arrange property access for monitoring.

Thank you again to all residents who have reported sightings and assisted the response operations by allowing access to your properties. If you have any concerns with property access or would like to report rodent sign or a sighting, please call 6563 2066 or email the Board at biosecurity@lhib.nsw.gov.au

New dog team arrives from NZ: Chelsea and Baxter

We have also welcomed a new dog handler Chelsea Price and her dog Baxter who will be with us for the next three weeks. Chelsea has a degree in Ecology specialising in Biosecurity and Conservation. She joined the Zero Invasive Predators (ZIP) field team in 2017 as part of a project to remove possums and rats from a 2,500-ha area during which she learned a lot about rat behaviour.

Chelsea became a predator dog handler in 2019 when rat detection dog Baxter joined the ZIP team. With Chelsea’s arrival we have increased our search capacity and will continue to extensively monitor the settlement and surrounding PPP areas.

Biosecurity dog handling workshop

Eleven prospective biosecurity officers undertook training on 2 & 3 July with renowned dog trainers Steve Austin and Miriam Richie. Steve comes from New South Wales and is one of the founding fathers of dog detection work in Australia, training dog handlers and dogs all over Australia and abroad.

Miriam has been a pest detection dog handler in the NZ Conservation Dog Programme for about 20 years, working rodent, mustelid and feral cat detection dogs. She has trained and worked many dogs and is a certifier and mentor for the NZ programme. You can read more about Miriam in Rodent Response update #15.

Steve was able to deliver his training to the group online due to the unfolding COVID situation. This was a fortunate alternative as Steve has three decades worth of canine industry knowledge and is a Certified Professional Dog Trainer – Knowledge Assessed (CPDT – KA). Steve was instrumental in setting up the new LHI biosecurity branch in 2017 with two detection dogs to monitor incoming passengers, baggage and freight for fruit, meat, plant and rodents.

This training was designed to upskill local potential applicants for the upcoming recruitment of Biosecurity Officers. This is the start of an extensive training schedule planned for the successful applicants.

This article appeared in The Lord Howe Island Signal, 31 July 2021.