Pests

 Possum hunt

Lachlan came back from reading yesterday to report he'd seen a possum in the camelia tree behind Room 1. We went out to see if we could spot it but there was no possum.

Later Jenny showed us a photo she and Lachlan had taken earlier.

Lachlan's mum had been in earlier to tell us about rat traps on Te Ara o te Ngāhere. She showed the class two dead rats and a dead mouse that had been trapped. We decided to go and look at the traps.

At the top of the trail

The first trap had a big dead rat inside it.
This one, the second trap, had nothing in it.

Looking inside to see if there is a rat.

                                                        We spotted the third trap. Also empty.

There was a dead possum in the kitchen garden recently. We got a close up look at it. We agreed it was a beautiful creature, but because they eat native bird eggs and chicks and young leaves of native trees they are a pest. So we need to trap and kill them to save our native creatures.

Here is Arielle's explanation of why rats and mice are a problem in Aotearoa/ New Zealand:

Lachlan's mum is getting a possum trap to add to the rat and mice traps on Te Arā o te Ngāhere.