AN: ? THese ArENT CAts?
A woman sitting at a desk stretched, raising her arms up over her head. It had been a long day, but there was still more to do yet before she went home. She yawned. The little portable office they'd set up on the old campground site was hot, even in spring temperatures. It was making her more tired, she was certain.
Laid out on the desk in front of her was a map of the valley reserve around the dam. It was her job to plan their next planting location, now they'd gotten the much-needed funding… Volunteers and a few trees weren't going to get them very far very fast but being able to pay for more native plants and people for their time should move things along better. This was already a long enough term project without delays right in these early stages.
The plan to turn this old farmland-turned-recreational reserve into a wildlife sanctuary was an ambitious one, but an ambition confirmed possible by precedent. The local naysayers annoyed they'd lost a place to park up and drink or walk their dogs would get over it if they one day had a place like the Karori Sanctuary on their doorstep. A predator-proof, predator-free, "mainland island" filled with native biodiversity.
The was already some pristine old beech forest left, hidden in all the weeds and introduced willows, along with plenty of riparian flax near the lake and the marshland surrounding it. Some native birds had been found in the bird count, but low numbers to be expected with all the pests around and lack of suitable habitat. There were however, a few rarer waterbirds such as grebes breeding at the site. It had a lot of potential in the long run, once it had been cleared of pests and weeds, fenced and re-planted.
A knock on the doorframe had her turn her head. "Any luck deciding?" A young man spoke from the entrance, leaning casually on the frame.
"I'm thinking that big overgrown paddock near the pine forest. It's nice and flat with easy access." She tapped the spot on the map of the valley. "What's up? He wouldn't have come over here just to ask that.
"Speaking of that area, we just got back the camera trap footage we set up after those pest control guys shot the feral there while surveying."
"Oh?"
"Yeah, and it's caught more cats on it. At least six different individuals, but there could easily be more."
"Wonder if they're from the same colony in the forest…?" She sighed. Damn, this place had such a huge feral cat problem. Probably stemming from dumped pets, bloody irresponsible… It would be a big job clearing them out, and sure to provoke some outrage from cat-loving members of the public. Pest control of feral cats was always controversial.
The man shrugged. "Maybe, these things can have big ranges, but some of them were definitely different by the coat colour."
"No sign of the Bengal?" The pest control guys had come across a purebred, assumedly dumped pet too, but when they tried to pick it up it had freaked out and run off. It was possible it had integrated into the colony, but still showed some friendly behaviour.
"Not on here. Has the committee decided what they want to do about that?" She could understand the question; if the public found out they'd killed someone's pet… It was bad publicity the fledgling project didn't need, considering the uproar already going on about the planned poison drop.
The woman worked a pencil in her fingers. The project committee had argued about it for a while but had come up with a fair compromise for the situation. "Humane cat traps. We've got some time before the fence is done and we can start pest control in earnest anyway. We'll see what we catch. Anything young enough or friendly enough to be salvageable can go to the SPCA who've agreed to take them on. They've got willing foster homes. Anything totally feral we'll euth… And after that, the cat kill-traps will go down when we drop the 1080."
The man nodded, mildly sombre. Nobody liked killing the pests, but it had to be done. "When's the fence scheduled to be done?"
"Now we've got some decent funding, a couple of months, maybe. In the meantime we are going to keep up with the weed removal, tree planting and trapping for the smaller stuff like mice, rats and stoats." The predator proof fence was easily their biggest expense between materials and construction of such a large thing to encircle the whole valley. But once it was up, they could eliminate all the pests inside knowing nothing more would get in. And when there was more native plant life established, they could start introducing some rare species.
The pencil continued to twirl thoughtfully in her hands. It was a big job; a long term dream, but the end result of it would be worth it. Native birdsong would fill this valley, and it would be a treasure to pass onto the next generation.
