Pest animals

There are a range of pest animals that we need to control in our region’s forests, reserves, coasts and waterways.

We also rely on help from landowners to control pest animals on their own farms and gardens. Pest animals can kill or compete with native species, damage trees and crops, and spread disease.

What we do

We undertake direct control of some pests in targeted areas, while others are best managed by people on their own properties. Pest animals in our region are included under four management programmes:

• Exclusion – stop them getting in: wallabies (Bennett's and dama)
• Eradication – remove them from our region over time: rooks
• Sustained control – stop them spreading: wasps, feral rabbit
• Site-led programmes – exclude them to protect specific vulnerable places: rats, possums, pest cats, mustelids (ferret, stoat and weasel), magpie, feral goat, feral deer, European hedgehog

See our Regional Pest Management Plan for more information on how pest management is managed in our region.