Zero Invasive Predators


NEXT and DOC are both committed to removing invasive predators, including feral cats, and the wider goal of a Predator Free New Zealand, because eliminating them helps save our biodiversity and 25 million birds a year. 

The vision of the ZIP partnership, when it was set up in 2014, was to develop a model of “remove and protect” where once predators were removed from a section of the mainland, a permanent solution was found so they never returned. 

As ZIP developed its intellectual property around predator control, NEXT has applied the learnings to the transformational environmental landscape projects it invests in. 

This started with the Taranaki Mounga Project, and then progressed to Predator Free Wellington, and Te Manahuna Aoraki, a project restoring the biodiversity of the MacKenzie Country in the South Island. 

A breakthrough project for ZIP came in 2018 when it tested its methodology on 13,000 hectares of rugged South Island back country, the Perth Valley in South Westland.

ZIP used its insights, knowledge and cutting edge technology, including AI, to remove rats, stoats and possums from the mainland and then implemented an intensive detection effort, so that any reinvasion was observed and dealt with before a new population could develop. This project took 18 months to complete. 

The success of the Perth Valley project led to the most ambitious ZIP led project to date – Predator Free South Westland (PFSW). PFSW covers a 113,000 hectare area and is using the Southern Alps, the Tasman Sea and two large river systems as nature’s barrier fences.

The project led by ZIP, and collaborating with iwi, government, farmers, communities, business and other philanthropists, is near completion, with 90 per cent of the area now predator free.

ZIP is now leading a new NEXT investment – Predator Free Rakiura,  a collaborative project removing feral cats and other predators from Stewart Island. Under the new NEXT fund ZIP will be scaled up, to help save other iconic species and species in Aotearoa New Zealand. 

Zero Invasive Predators