"Tuesday Chewsday!" - Active recruitment of Citizen Scientists for a rodent monitoring project in New Zealand

While New Zealand has no native land mammals (with the exception of bats), it does have an impressive array of unique and indigenous bird species. Alarmingly, many of these are now endangered due to the introduction of... [ view full abstract ]

While New Zealand has no native land mammals (with the exception of bats), it does have an impressive array of unique and indigenous bird species. Alarmingly, many of these are now endangered due to the introduction of predatory mammals, such as rodents, mustelids, and hedgehogs. In the capital city of Wellington, the ZEALANDIA wildlife sanctuary has been established to protect native species. It is surrounded by a predator-proof fence, however some birds are capable of flying over it and dispersing into the surrounding suburbs, where they often encounter predators.

The “Tuesday Chewsday” project aimed to undertake a census of suburban pests with the help of local residents. In order to have a representative sample in the area surrounding ZEALANDIA, we randomly-generated hundreds of addresses within our target zone and sent out information letters asking households if they would like to take part. Participating households placed a ‘chewcard’ (commonly-used monitoring tool) in their gardens for a week and then placed it in their mailbox for collection by the researchers. This talk will tell the story of our active recruitment process of Citizen Scientists, response rates, public engagement, follow-up, disasters encountered, and lessons learned. We hope to repeat this survey in a year or two to monitor any changes in the resident pest population and in household attitudes towards conservation.