The Department of Conservation (DoC) is using motion sensitive cameras to monitor predators like rats and stoats and see if 1080 baits are actually working.
Motion sensitive cameras attached to small poles in bush trails are the latest weapon being used by the DoC in its fight against pests such as rats, stoats and hedgehogs.
The cameras - out on stakes in the forest about 50cm off the ground - are used to spy on predators and see if the 1080 baits are actually working.
Dr Elaine Murphy - the principle scientist of threats at DoC - told Summer Report the aim was to see the difference before and after a 1080 drop.
"Most monitoring techniques only record one or two different species, whereas cameras record a whole suite of species. So we set the cameras up and recorded, and got almost 5000 videos to watch."
The cameras captured stoats, weasels, cats, ferrets, possums, mice, rats, hedgehogs, pigs and deer.
Following a 1080 aerial drop, no stoats or rats were then seen on the cameras.
Dr Murphy said while many people were concerned that the aerial 1080 drops would kill everything in the area, the videos showed just as many birds in the area after the drop.
"So it was a very effective way of showing that the aerial 1080 operation did achieve its aim."
